Boundaries are nothing more than imaginary lines drawn-up by delusional leaders and power hungry tyrants who wish to segregate the population into more easily controlled segments in any case. -If you really think about it...

Monks, did you see that jackal this afternoon? Standing, it suffered. Running, it suffered. Sitting, it suffered. Lying down, it suffered. It blamed standing for its discomfort. It blamed sitting. It blamed running and lying...

While meditating we are simply seeing what the mind has been doing all along.

The essence of the Dharma (the teachings of the Buddha) is about identifying the cause of our suffering & alleviating it.

If he makes himself as good as he tells others to be, then he in truth can teach others. Difficult indeed is self-control.

A wide and vague impression exists that so-called Eastern religion is more contemplative, innocuous, and humane than the proselytizing monotheisms of the West. Don’t believe a word of this: try asking the children of Indochina...

Very much so.

While a man desires a woman,His mind is boundAs closely as a calf to its mother.As you would pluck an autumn lily,Pluck the arrow of desire.

Culture is an elevated expression of the inner voice which the different peoples of the Earth have heard in the depths of their being, a voice which conveys the vibrant compassion and wisdom of the...

When the mind is exhausted of images, it invents its own.

Through countless births in the cycle of existence I have run, not finding although seeking the builder of this house; and again and again I faced the suffering of new birth. Oh housebuilder! Now you...

If you are a Buddhist, inspire yourself by thinking of the bodhisattva. If you are a Christian, think of the Christ, who came not to be served by others but to serve them in joy,...

The more truthful I am with myself and others, the more my conscience is clear and tranquil. Thus, I can more thoroughly and unequivocally inhabit the present moment and accept everything that happens without fear,...

Anxiety and desire are two, often conflicting, orientations to the unknown. Both are tilted toward the future. Desire implies a willingness, or a need, to engage this unknown, while anxiety suggests a fear of it....

If you’re reading these words, perhaps it’s because something has kicked open the door for you, and you’re ready to embrace change. It isn’t enough to appreciate change from afar, or only in the abstract,...

We can discover the capacity of the mind to be aware, to love, to begin again

What each of us believes in is up to us, but life is impossible without believing in something.

Through recognizing and realizing the empty essence, instead of being selfish and self-centered, one feels very open and free

Buddhism has become for me a philosophy of action and responsibility. It provides a framework of values, ideas, and practices that nurture my ability to create a path in life, to define myself as a...

Nothing needs to be done, and things get done.

The Buddha’s principal message that day was that holding on to anything blocks wisdom. Any conclusion that we draw must be let go. The only way to fully understand the bodhichitta teachings, the only way...

The Three Kinds of Pride are: (1) thinking I am better than the other(s); (2) thinking I am worse than the other(s); and (3) thinking I am just as good as the other(s).

Where would I find enough leatherTo cover the entire surface of the earth?But with leather soles beneath my feet,It’s as if the whole world has been covered.

Why are you unhappy?Because 99.9 percent of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself—and there isn’t one.

As I explore the wilderness of my own body, I see that I am made of blood and bones, sunlight and water, pesticide residues and redwood humus, the fears and dreams of generations of ancestors,...

Thoughts, words, emotions & deeds not coming from love are likely coming from fear.

We cannot force the development of mindfulness.

Death for [the Buddhist] is the shadow on the face of life, for the opposite of death is birth, not life; that which is born must die. Life has no opposite, for life goes on;...

The Buddha-nature which is ours from the very beginning is like the sun which emerges from the clouds, or like a mirror which, when rubbed, regains its original purity and clarity. (217)

Rather than allowing our response to an even affect our breathing, we can learn instead to let our breathing change our relationship to the event.

The Japanese think it strange we paint our old wooden houses when it takes so long to find the wabi in them. They prefer the bonsai tree after the valiant blossoming is over, the leaves...

Salute to the Smiling Faces of the 21st Century.

When the Aggregates arise, decay and die, O bhikkhu, every moment you are born, decay, and die.

Tune as the sitthar, neither high nor low, and we will dance away the hearts of men.

People sometimes imagine that without desire there would be no enjoyment. The opposite is true. When you’re caught up in craving, you never really enjoy anything very much because your mind is always pulling you...

Who says you need to wait until you ‘feel like’ doing something in order to start doing it? The problem, from this perspective, isn’t that you don’t feel motivated; it’s that you imagine you need...

In building a path through the self to the far shore of awareness, we have to carefully pick our way through our own wilderness. If we can put our minds into a place of surrender,...

We long for permanence but everything in the known universe is transient. That’s a fact but one we fight.

With attachment all that seems to exist is just me & that object I desire.

Health, wealth, reputation, and status are all mere ingredients of happiness. The key to true well-being is being able to manage them capably.

According to the Buddha’s teaching the beginning of the life-stream of living beings is unthinkable. THe believer in the creation of life by God may be astonished at this reply. But if you were to...

There is no reason for a sound faith to be irrational. A useful faith should not be blind, but should be well aware of its grounds. A sound faith should be able to use scientific...

stay” and settle down. Are we experiencing restlessness? Stay! Are fear and loathing out of control? Stay! Aching knees and throbbing back? Stay! What’s for lunch? Stay! I can’t stand this another minute! Stay!”

To take good care of ourselves, we must go back and take care of the wounded child inside of us. You have to practice going back to your wounded child every day. You have to...

The teachings of the Buddha could be summarized in four short sentences. … [The Buddha] said …The bad things, don’t do them.The good things, try to do them.Try to purify, subdue your own mind.That is...

The coolness of Buddhism isn’t indifference but the distance one gains on emotions, the quiet place from which to regard the turbulence. From far away you see the pattern, the connections, and the thing as...

The word desire suggests that there is something we do not have. If we have everything already, then there can be no desire, for there is nothing left to want. I think that what the...

To advance spiritually requires a method of practice & determination to carry it out.

There is no illness that is not exacerbated by stress.

He was the least spiritual of all the monks here, accepting nothing without proof. This skepticism was simultaneously his greatest asset and his greatest impediment.