Compassion is a college education. It's a doctorate.

I knew that if I did not start chanting with people, that I would never be able to clean out the dark corners of my own heart. I knew it with every cell in my body and mind.

The heart is like a mirror. When we dust it off, we are able to see ourselves. The dust is all our stuff - guilt, anger - this stuff is reflected back to us. Practice removes the dust from the mirror of our hearts.

Bliss is easy, just take a drug. What is hard is feeling good about our real selves.

One of your biggest lessons so far in life has been to learn to forgive myself over and over again and not to be so harsh with myself.

Ultimately when I am with you all, what I see is my Guru. And what is he? He is love.

Real compassion is not emotional. Real compassion is based on the experience that all beings, which might appear separate, are actually a part of my own body, and I am a part of the body of the universe. We are not separate. So if one being hurts, I also hurt.