Surrendering, letting go of possessiveness, and complete nonattachment-all are synonyms for accumulating merit.

When things fall apart in your life, you feel as if your whole world is crumbling. But actually it’s your fixed identity that’s crumbling. And as Chögyam Trungpa used to tell us, that’s cause for celebration.

The only reason we don't open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don't feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else's eyes.

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals.

We can put our whole heart into whatever we do; but if we freeze our attitude into for or against, we're setting ourselves up for stress. Instead, we could just go forward with curiosity, wondering where this experiment will lead. This kind of open-ended inquisitiveness captures the spirit of enthusiasm, or heroic perseverance.

Each time you stay present with fear and uncertainty, you're letting go of a habitual way of finding security and comfort.

It isn't what happens to us that causes us to suffer; it's what we say to ourselves about what happens.