There is a certain degree of pain to be experienced in the search for self-knowledge, as there is a certain amount of joy. You just do it because you find yourself doing it. There just doesn't seem to be much else worthwhile.
When you become angry at someone, your anger will actually have a power. You can hit somebody in a non-physical way and it can injure that being.
If science proves some belief of Buddhism wrong, then Buddhism will have to change. In my view, science and Buddhism share a search for the truth and for understanding reality. By learning from science about aspects of reality where its understanding may be more advanced, I believe that Buddhism enriches its own worldview.
As you meditate, you will discover, pleasantly, that you too can see beyond this life, that you can see your eternality.
Life is composed of lines of light, fibers of energy, pulsing, still, pure being.
That's what Buddhism has been trying to unravel - the mechanism of happiness and suffering. It is a science of the mind.
When we see a hero, on the one hand, we applaud them; on the other hand, there is something in a lot of people that wants to tear the hero down.
We must control the tendencies within our being that are destructive, when we want to slam somebody else, hurt them, injure them, or push them out of the way. A reverence for life needs to be developed, in which all things are sacred.
Are you still carrying everyone who's insulted you, injured you or interfered with you? That's a lot of weight. I'd let it go, personally, and just move on and forget. Be in the moment. Don't even notice.
If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path.
I've worked in the prison system, on death row and maximum security. I did that work for six years. I've worked with some of the most difficult people in our society. Buddhism was accessible and helpful for these individuals.
Forget that you are anybody and just perform the activities around you. Look at them. Watch what you are doing, my God! Life is right in front of you, and it's great.
People are under the assumption that the kundalini just flows from the base of the spine up. That's not the case at all. Kundalini also flows downward.
Tantric Zen, and the people who practice it, of course, make some people feel extremely uncomfortable.
You are everything and everyone. You are in all things. You exist in all conditions. You are the universe. You just think of yourself as existing within a temporal body
There is only one prayer and that is prayer for light, for purity, for perfection.
Power, people are obsessed with it. You can take a nice person and turn them into a slob, into an insane being, craving power, destroying anything that stands in their way.
The causal dimensions, the planes of light, are happiness. They are all different and are all endless. They border the shores of nirvana, which is beyond discussion - a condition of perfection that cannot be expressed.
It's like looking at the sun, that's how infinity is. You can't look at it for too long or you dissolve. The bands of your attention break. But if you look at it in specific ways, you can become something or someone much more conscious.
Start simply everyday by asking yourself, "What is the dharma today? What should I do? What is right? What does the universe want from me?"