You don't really have a choice. You are alive and you will die.

You will have to put aside some things in your life, habits, ideas, ways of seeing life. You will have to learn new things, and then new things and then new things - forever.

You can just stay in oblivion, going through your days and your life and your experiences, staying with your friends, family. If that suits you, it's good. But for some people, it's not enough.

Spiritual people are often persecuted because of their beliefs. Christians were fed to the lions. Jews were slaughtered in concentration camps. Various forms of persecution still exist today throughout the world.

In both Surfing the Himalayas and Snowboarding to Nirvana, I have tried to transmit as best I could the spirit of humor, and the sense of humor of the monks I have encountered.

The kundalini is the life force; it is the essential energy of existence. It is the hidden ingredient in life. It is what makes it all work.

The person who's in the Zen monastery, who's doing a kind of poor job at meditating and a half-ass job cleaning the gardens is not doing very good yoga.