The forms of the central and surrounding deities… should not be protruding like a clay statue or cast image, yet neither should they be flat like a painting. In contrast, they should be apparent, yet...

There’s a limit to my patience with anything that smacks of metaphysics. I squirm at the mention of “mind expansion” or “warm healing energy.” I don’t like drum circles, public nudity or strangers touching my...

But sometimes you simply can’t make yourself feel like acting. And in those situations, motivational advice risks making things worse, by surreptitiously strengthening your belief that you need to feel motivated before you act. By...

All the repetitions in the pattern were superficial; the moment was always new. It had to be lived, and then the next moment embraced as it arrived.

Life is very simple. Just sometimes put your head away, sometimes behead yourself, sometimes look with no clouds in the eyes – just look. Sometimes sit by the side of a tree – just feel....

To relinquish the futile effort to control change is one of the strengthening forces of true detachment & thus true love.

Pain is not wrong. Reacting to pain as wrong initiates the trance of unworthiness. The moment we believe something is wrong, our world shrinks and we lose ourselves in the effort to combat the pain.

What we call life…is the combination of the Five Aggregates, a combination of physical and mental energies. These are constantly changing; they do not remain the same for two consecutive moments. Every moment they are...

To become enlightened is not just to slip into some disconnected euphoria, an oceanic feeling of mystic oneness apart from ordinary reality. It is not even to come up with a solution, a sort of...

The difference between theism and nontheism is not whether one does or does not believe in God. . . Theism is a deep-seated conviction that there’s some hand to hold: if we just do the...

The son needs the father to have access to his source, and the father needs the son to have access to the future and the infinite.

A smile is the most beautiful colour in the world.

We are such spendthrifts with our lives, the trick of living is to slip on and off the planet with the least fuss you can muster. I’m not running for sainthood. I just happen to...

Understanding the true nature of things, or seeing things as they really are, is the ground of wisdom.

A modern definition of equanimity: cool. This refers to one whose mind remains stable & calm in all situations.

Good. Bad. The cup holds both.

Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.

That nagging state of constant thought that exists somewhere between the ears and behind the eyes is the self.

The awareness that seeks to know is the very object of its own seeking.

If you want to take care of tomorrow, take better care of today. We always live now. All we have to do is entrust ourselves to the life we now live.

And the Buddha pointed out that his confusion was justified, for ‘the dharma is profound, difficult to see, difficult to understand, peaceful, excellent, beyond the sphere of logic, subtle, and to be understood by the...

Meditate, Ānanda, do not delay, or else you will regret it later. This is our instruction to you.

As much as possible, it is useful to think of all other beings as being just like me. Every living being strives for happiness. Every being wants to avoid all forms of suffering. They are...

Consciousness is naturally shamanic.

The way is yours for the asking – the way is yours for the taking. The way is as it should be.

The Amida Buddha delivers those who recognize their own weakness and cowardice… Those who admit their own faults and above all, those who believe… A wholehearted trust in Amida Buddha gives peace of mind to...

The embodiment of kindness is often made difficult by our long ingrained patternsof fear & jealousy.

We are all trying to find a path back to the present moment. And good enough reason to just be happy here… Mindfulness meditation is just a trick for doing that. It’s a trick for...

In Demons of the Flesh, Zeena describes how Shiva and Shakti are actually ‘two sides of the same deity’. The goal of the initiate on the left-hand path is to become ‘this bisexual twin godhead’...

This will never come again

You necessarily have to be lost, before you’re found.

People get into a heavy-duty sin and guilt trip, feeling that if things are going wrong, that means that they did something bad and they are being punished. That’s not the idea at all. The...

Is it a weakness not being able to hate? Or is it preparation for what is inevitable, the ability only to love.

If we take something to be the truth, we may cling to it so much that when the truth comes and knocks on our door, we won’t want to let it in.

When fear and suffering are disliked by me and others equally what is so special about me that I protect myself and not the other?

Worry does not keep it from raining tomorrow, but it does keep it from being sunny today.

Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and the spiritual, and it...

One doesn’t have to be religious to lead a moral life or attain wisdom.

One who is patient glows with an inner radiance.

If a man speaks many holy words but he speaks and does not, this thoughtless man cannot enjoy the life of holiness: he is like a cowherd who counts the cows of his master.Whereas if...

A boddhisattva is someone who is on the way to becoming a buddha. All of us become boddhisattvas as soon as we start to take our Zen work seriously and the work we do contributes...

A fool sees himself as another, but a wise man sees others as himself.

Following feeling, relying on liking or wanting, we are not free. The freedom to “do as we like” is not freedom of choice because we are ruled by the powerful property of feeling; we cannot...

The willingness to challenge hardships taps the power within human beings to transform even a place of tragedy into a stage for fulfilling one’s mission.

Westereners often think that the East is one vast Buddhist temple, which is rather like thinking the West is one vast Carthusian monastery. If the [Western people who like Buddhism] were to visit the East,...

All phenomena do not inherently exist because of being dependent-arisings. All phenomena do not inherently exist because of being dependently imputed.

But, the true reason for the success of such new expositions [translated Eastern religious texts] is to be found where they are the most accommodating, least rigid, least severe, most vague, and ready to come...

Dream: I look for Lama Lodrö Kagyu teacher friend hearing he’s ill & I’m ill, too – I enter his room and he says “I’ve been trying to find you – I wanted you to...

There is a yearning that is as spiritual as it is sensual. Even when it degenerates into addiction, there is something salvageable from the original impulse that can only be described as sacred. Something in...

It is never too late to turn on the light. Your ability to break an unhealthy habit or turn off an old tape doesn’t depend on how long it has been running; a shift in...