This is what it means to be mindful. To watch the thoughts as they come and go without judgment while completely accepting what arises in the present moment.

Can the water in the valleys ever stop and rest?When the water finally reaches the sea, it becomes great waves.

The institutions of human society treat us as parts of a machine. They assign us ranks and place considerable pressure upon us to fulfill defined roles. We need something to help us restore our lost...

Like a lamp, dispelling the darkness of ignorance

Whatever a monk keeps pursuing with his thinking and pondering, that becomes the inclination of his awareness.

Not till your thoughts cease all their branching here and there, not till you abandon all thoughts of seeking for something, not till your mind is motionless as wood or stone, will you be on...

Refutations of the views of inherently existent production are not just refutations of rival systems but should be taken as a branch of the process of overcoming one’s own innate sense that things are inherently...

The application of this knife, the division of the world into parts and the building of this structure, is something everybody does. All the time we are aware of millions of things around us –...

The key to cultivating confidence in ourselves is understanding our right to make the truth our own.

How wonderful it would be if people did all they could for one other without seeking anything in return! One should never remember a kindness done, and never forget a kindness received.

When all that’s left of us is the pure untainted consciousness without form, we’ll know what it means when the last human breath expires.

This body is fragile. It is just flesh. Listen to the heartbeat. Life depends on the pumping of a muscle.

We find what’s in our own heads.

As the twelfth-century Tibetian yogi Milarepa said when he heard of his student Gampopa’s peak experiences, ‘They are neither good nor bad. Keep meditating.’

Time is an illusion, only the keepers of the illusion are real, and the reality they have spun, keeps us, until we set upon the path of the dream.

Whenever the Christian idea of meditation is taken seriously, there are those who assume it is synonymous with the concept of meditation centered in Eastern religions. In reality, the two ideas stand worlds apart. Eastern...

Whereever you are, you are one with the clouds and one with the sun and the stars you see. You are one with everything. That is more true than I can say, and more true...

Being a senior doesn’t automatically make one wise but the wise & foolish alike have things to teach us.

We need never be bound by the limitations of our previous or current thinking, nor are we ever locked into being the person we used to be, or think we are.

Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel, when asked how to strike a better balance between family, work and self-realisation says: “You need the intention, good scheduling, and you have to be creative. If you don’t find time to practice,...

But even though there´s no more hope, again there´s no need to harm yourself, despite your feeling as if there´s no ground beneath you and no choice in any direction. But when we do let...

The idea of Zen is to catch life as it flows. There is nothing extraordinary or mysterious about Zen. I raise my hand ; I take a book from the other side of the desk...

Buddhism holds that everything is in constant flux. Thus the question is whether we are to accept change passively and be swept away by it or whether we are to take the lead and create...

Another aspect inviting contemplation is the fact that the affective tone of any feeling depends on the type of contact that has caused its arising. Once this conditioned nature of feelings is fully apprehended, detachment...

I shall live here in the rains,There in winter,Elsewhere in summer,” muses the fool,Not aware of the nearness of death.

O snailClimb Mount FujiBut slowly, slowly!

We just have to remind ourselves that the source of any happiness is mind itself.

Awakening does not mean a change in difficulty, it means a change in how those difficulties are met.

Because the development of inner calm & energy happens completely within & isn’t dependent on another person or a particular situation, we begin to feel a resourcefulness and independence that is quite beautiful—and a huge...

Meditation may be done in silence & stillness, by using voice & sound, or by engaging the body in movement. All forms emphasize the training of attention.

On the Brevity of Our TiesTies in this world last only for a time. We are husband and wife, parent and child, for a short period only. Once this reality sinks in, we cannot help...

Any religion can be compared to the attic of an old home. Unless the attic is regularly cleaned, it gathers dust and cobwebs and eventually becomes unusable. Similarly, if a religion cannot be updated or...

Buddhism is all about science. If science is the systematic pursuit of the accurate knowledge of reality, then science is Buddhism, Buddhism is science.

The means and the results, the good and the bad, are within all of us who are aware and care.

bored buddha.” In other words, anything that you can experience or think is worthy of compassion; anything you could think or feel is worthy of appreciation.

Impermanence and selflessness are not negative aspect of life, but the very foundation on which life is built. Impermanence is the constant transformation of things. Without impermanence, there can be no life. Selflessness is the...

When you die, you want to die a beautiful death. But what makes for a beautiful death is not always clear. To die without suffering, to die without causing trouble to others, to die leaving...

Emotional states are fairly quick bursts of neuronal gossip. Traits, on the other hand, are more like the neuronal equivalent of committed relationships.

Searching outside of you is Samsara (the world). Searching within you leads to Nirvana.

Patience is both the tool for and the result of, our efforts.

We live in illusion and the appearance of things. There is a reality. We are that reality. When you understand this, you see that you are nothing, and being nothing, you are everything. That is...

Concentration is the creation of the instrument; meditation is the right use of it; contemplation transcends it.

Deep down I believe each of us is a well-spring of understanding and wisdom, but we simply never allow the space or time for this understanding to rise to the level of conscious thought.

When you can no longer tell the difference between being yourself and being love, you are not far from waking up.

There’s no path to liberation that doesn’t pass through the shadow.

Mindfulness has never met a cognition it didn’t like.

Resolutely train yourself to attain peace.

When love and hate are both absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the slightest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth, then hold no...

Without discursive thought it is just dharma practice. Hope together with aim obscures. One does not cut through pride by meditatively cultivating the desire for happiness. If there is hope, even the hope for buddhas,...

When I speak in Christian terms or Buddhist terms I’m simply selecting for the moment a dialect. Christian words for me represent the comforting vocabulary of the place I came from hometown voices saying more...