Most people simply go through life. They feel that they're making choices in their lives that cause destiny to move in certain ways. I would suggest that they have no control of their lives, all their choices are really made for them.

With the power of one's will we stop thought and move into alternate forms of perception. We gain that power through practicing very, very, very hard each day when we meditate to stop our thoughts.

The mind is like a lake. It reflects eternity when it's very still. If ripples appear, lots of them, then the reflection is not clear. We lose the clarity of the perfect reflection.

In the world of interactive multi-media highways we are all traveling somewhere interactively and we are all shopping for something, our dreams, our hopes, our ambitions for ourselves, for those we love - these little scenarios we play out endlessly in our mind.

Even sickness becomes an experience that we pass through in happiness because our happiness is not dependent upon how our body feels, but how our spirit feels.

Examine your experience of the incarnation so far and realistically add up the moments of happiness and unhappiness and you tell me, oh somewhat vaguely nobly born, you tell me, what has it been like for you?

Put the mind in alignment with the ten thousand radiances of enlightenment and experience them in various gradations forever. That's the total purpose of a monk.