The point is that it’s best to stick to one boat, so to speak, whatever that boat may be, because otherwise the minute you really begin to hurt, you’ll just leave or you’ll look for something else.

In England, where he had first encountered Western students, the people who were attracted to Buddhism were Buddhist scholars who couldn’t hear the dharma because they couldn’t let go of their preconceived ideas of how it fit in with preconceived scholarly notions.

Inquisitiveness or curiosity involves being gentle, precise, and open—actually being able to let go and open. Gentleness is a sense of goodheartedness toward ourselves. Precision is being able to see very clearly, not being afraid to see what’s really there, just as a scientist is not afraid…

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I had been doing shamatha practice for maybe seven years when I first did tonglen. After doing this practice, I was amazed to see how I had been subtly using my shamatha to try to avoid being hurt, to try to avoid depression or discouragement or bad feelings of any kind. Basically, unknown to myself, I had secretly hoped that if I did the practice

A much more interesting, kind, adventurous, and joyful approach to life is to begin to develop our curiosity, not caring whether the object of our inquisitiveness is bitter or sweet. To lead a life that goes beyond pettiness and prejudice and always wanting to make sure that everything turns out on our own terms, to lead a more passionate, full,

The whole journey of renunciation, or starting to say yes to life, is first of all realizing that you’ve come up against your edge, that everything in you is saying no, and then at that point, softening.

If we sit still, like the mountain Gampo Lhatse in a hurricane, if we don’t protect ourselves from the trueness and the vividness and the immediacy and the lack of confirmation of simply being part of life, then we are not this separate being who has to have things turn out our way.

You could uncover it at any point and it would still be a jewel, our heirloom. Bodhicitta is also said to be like very rich, creamy milk that has the potential of being butter. You have to do a little work to get the butterness out of the cream. You have to churn it. It’s also been compared to a sesame seed, full of sesame oil. You have to do a

All the way up this mountain there were places where people met their edge and just froze and couldn’t go any farther.