In Buddhist practice, the outward and inward aspects of taking the one seat meet on our meditation cushion.

Ours is a society of denial that conditions us to protect ourselves from any direct difficulty and discomfort. We expend enormous energy denying our insecurity, fighting pain, death and loss and hiding from the basic truths of the natural world and of our own nature.

The quieting of our mind is a political act.

In deep self acceptance, grows a compassionate understanding.

We need courage and strength, a kind of warrior spirit. But the place for this warrior strength is in the heart. We need energy, commitment, and courage not to run from our life nor to cover it over with any philosophy-mate rial or spiritual. We need a warrior’s heart that lets us face our lives directly, our pains and limitations, our joys and possibilities.

No one knows how this world came into being. It is a creation of consciousness itself. It's extraordinary, a mystery.

The first level of practice is illuminated by the qualities of courage and renunciation.