Peace is not weak. Standing up to a tank is harder than dropping a suicide bomb

The basic root of happiness lies in our minds; outer circumstances are nothing more than adverse or favourable.

Isn't it the mind that translates the outer condition into happiness and suffering?

When you engage in compassion, and you hear a distressing sound, like someone calling for help, there is an activation in an area of the brain called the insular, which has to do with empathy and altruism, that is vastly more activated than in non-meditators.

If contemplation of other people's pain just increases distress, then I think we should see it in another way. If we don't center too much on ourselves, then [we] increase our courage and our determination to remedy the pain, not our distress. If we have unconditional compassion, then it increases our courage. So that's the difference, self-centered motivation versus altruistic motivation.

Good and evil exist only in terms of the happiness or suffering they create in ourselves and others

A big part of pain is the subjective reaction of trying to revolt against pain. If it's there, it's better to deal with it. Most of it is "I cannot stand it," and that component is enhancing pain so much.