True wisdom is free of the dramas of culture or religion and should bring us only a sense of peace and happiness.

In the end, we have nothing to lose by opening our hearts.

We actually need intelligent doubt and skepticism; they protect us against mistaken views and propaganda.

That is the essence and mission of 'rebel buddha': to free us from the illusions we create by ourselves, about ourselves, and from those that masquerade as reality in our cultural and religious institutions.

True wisdom is free of the dramas of culture or religion and should bring us only a sense of peace and happiness.

To discover your real questions, simply take a time-out. Stop looking ahead of yourself at where you’re going or backward at where you’ve been. When you do stop, there’s a sense of going nowhere. There’s a sense of gap, which is a tremendous relief. You can simply breathe and be who you are.

How wonderful it would be, I thought, if only we could practice the teachings of the Buddha as he really taught them from his own experience - free from the clouds of religiosity that often surround them Yet it's difficult to distinguish the tools themselves from their cultural packaging.