On the journey of the warrior-bodhisattva, the path goes down, not up, as if the mountain pointed toward the earth instead of the sky. Instead of transcending the suffering of all creatures, we move toward turbulence and doubt however we can. We explore the reality and unpredictability of insecurity and pain, and we try not to push it away. If it takes years, if it takes lifetimes, we let it be as it is. At our own pace, without speed or aggression, we move down and down and down. With us move millions of others, companions in awakening from fear.

The root of suffering is resisting the certainty that no matter what the circumstances, uncertainty is all we truly have.

Once you create a self-justifying storyline, your emotional entrapment within it quadruples.

As each breath goes out, let it be the end of that moment and the birth of something new. . .

Without loving-kindness for ourselves, it is difficult, if not impossible, to genuinely feel it for others.

We feel that we have to be right so that we can feel good. We don’t want to be wrong because then we’ll feel bad. But we could be more compassionate toward all these parts of ourselves. The whole right and wrong business closes us down and makes our world smaller. Wanting situations and relationships to be solid, permanent, and graspable obscures the pith of the matter, which is that things are fundamentally groundless.

We don’t sit in meditation to become good meditators. We sit in meditation so that we’ll be more awake in our lives.