[mudra]

In the beginning we should have a clear, overall view of the path, so that we know what we are aiming at in our practice and can recognize the level we have reached. Then, as we practice regularly, we may experience profound changes in our minds, but these experiences only occur when we are concentrating in sessions of meditation. Later, after meditating for a long time, we find that these experiences occur spontaneously when we encounter particular circumstances, without our needing to concentrate in meditation.
Take the example of bodhichitta. After we have meditated on bodhichitta for a while, a change occurs in our minds, but only when we are actually thinking of bodhichitta. This is what is called a fabricated experience. It is not the bodhichitta of a real Bodhisattva. As we maintain progress, however, we reach a point where the mere sight of an animal or bird causes the thought to well up from the depth of our hearts, When will I ever attain enlightenment for this being? This is what we call a natural experience, and at this point true bodhichitta has taken root in us.

- From For the Benefit of All Beings: A Commentary on The Way of the Bodhisattva (formerly A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night) by Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

Kindness
mudra