When we feel anger toward someone, we can consider that they are a being just like us, who has faced much suffering in life.
We don’t know all the reasons that propel us on a spiritual journey, but somehow our life compels us to go.
Nirvana manifests as ease, as love, as connectedness, as generosity, as clarity, as unshakable freedom. This isn’t watering down nirvana. This is the reality of liberation that we can experience, sometimes in a moment and sometimes in transformative ways that change our entire life.
To begin to meditate is to look into our lives with interest in kindness and discover how to be wakeful and free.
To let go does not mean to get rid of. To let go means to let be. When we let be with compassion, things come and go on their own.
No matter what situation we find ourselves in, we can always set our compass to our highest intentions in the present moment.
In this there is no judgment and no blame, for we seek not to perfect the world but to perfect our love for what is on this earth.
Embodied courage chooses not to wait until illness or notice of death demands attention.
Meditation is a vehicle for opening to the truth of this impermanence on deeper and deeper levels.
There are many good forms of meditation practice. A good meditation practice is any one that develops awareness or mindfulness of our body and our sense, of our mind and heart.
When attachment arises in the place of love, it sees the other as separate; it grasps and needs. Attachment is conditional; it seeks control and it fear loss. Ask your heart if attachment has replaced love. If we speak to our heart, it will always tell us the truth.
We need a warrior’s heart that lets us face our lives directly, our pains and limitations, our joys and possibilities.
Only a deep attention to the whole of our life can bring us the capacity to love well and live freely.
Through practice, gently and gradually we can collect ourselves and learn how to be more fully with what we do.
Everybody needs to take some time, in some way, to quiet themselves and really listen to their heart.
We must look at our life without sentimentality, exaggeration or idealism. Does what we are choosing reflect what we most deeply value?
To learn to concentrate we must choose a prayer or meditation and follow this path with commitment and steadiness, a willingness to work with our practice day after day, no matter what arises.
Yet I knew that spiritual practice is impossible without great dedication, energy, and commitment.
In this world there are two great sources of strength. One rests with those who are not afraid to kill. The other rests with those who are not afraid to love.
Expressing gratitude to our benefactors is a natural form of love. In fact, some people find loving kindness for themselves so hard, they begin their practice with a benefactor. This too is fine. The rule in loving kindness practice is to follow the way that most easily opens your heart.