The essence of compassion is a desire to alleviate the suffering of others and to promote their well-being

Those who like myself, consider themselves to be followers of Buddha, should practice as much as we can. To followers of other religious traditions, I would like to say, 'Please practice your own religion seriously and sincerely.' And to non-believers, I request you to try to be warm-hearted. I ask this of you because these mental attitudes actually bring us happiness.

What we do and think in our own lives, then, becomes of extreme importance as it effects everything we're connected to.

Sin contains its own judgement and punishment.

Study and practice are both very important, but they must go hand in hand. Faith without knowledge is not sufficient. Faith needs to be supported by reason. However intellectual understanding that is not applied in practice is also of little use. Whatever we learn from study we need to apply sincerely in our daily lives.

Sectarian feelings and criticism of other teachings or other sects is very bad, poisonous, and should be avoided.

Perhaps our teachings seem less religious and more technical, like psychology, so they are easier for secular people to use.