How we actually live this precious life we have been given is the most important point. Although we may fervently wish to end all pain in the world, as many before us have wished, the best we may be able to do is not add to it.

We all want to be the one who knows. But if we decide we “know” something, we are not open to other possibilities anymore. And that’s a shame. We lose something very vital in our life when it’s more important to us to be one who knows than it is to be awake to what’s happening.

We don’t sit to become a buddha, we sit because it is what buddhas do. And we are all buddha from the beginning. So

This is the whole point of mindful awareness: to be able to live our life truly as we wish to live it

that kind of slight switch of saying, “Oh, good, I noticed. Now I can stop,” instead of, “Oh, bad, I’m doing it again”—that slight switch is very, very helpful. It allows you to notice sooner, because instead of getting hit with a stick, you’re going to get a little pat on the back

That’s what the bodhisattva vow is about. Vow to benefit all beings. This is our intention, our effort, our focus. How can we benefit others? Please work on that. Please help others to work on it.

Even though you sit trying to have the right posture and counting your breath, it may still be lifeless zazen because you’re just following instructions; you’re not kind enough with yourself.

We are very skillful. We can hold both an extremely elevated view of self and an extremely negative view of self at the same time. Neither one is accurate.

at some point you need to “dig one deep hole instead of many shallow holes,” as