I would not be happy if I had not become a monk.

When we have anger in us, we suffer. When we have discrimination in us, we suffer. When we have the complex of superiority, we suffer. When we have the complex of inferiority, we suffer also. So when we are capable of transforming these negative things in us, we are free and happiness is possible.

Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. If you are not capable of generatng that kind of energy toward yourself - if you are not capable of taking care of yourself, of nourishing yourself, of protecting yourself - it is very difficult to take care of another person. In the Buddhist teaching, it's clear that to love oneself is the foundation of the love of other people. Love is a practice. Love is truly a practice.

We need enlightenment, not just individually but collectively, to save the planet.

Birth is okay and death is okay, if we know that they are only concepts in our mind. Reality transcends both birth and death.

Forgiveness will not be possible until compassion is born in your heart.

In every country in the world, killing human beings is condemned. The Buddhist precept of non-killing extends even further, to include all living beings.