Come back to square one, just the minimum bare bones. Relaxing with the present moment, relaxing with hopelessness, relaxing with death, not resisting the fact that things end, that things pass, that things have no lasting substance, that everything is changing all the time-that is the basic message.

Pain is not a punishment; pleasure is not a reward.

Our neurosis and our wisdom are made out of the same material. If you throw out your neurosis, you also throw out your wisdom.

By not knowing, not hoping to know and not acting like we know what's happening, we begin to access our inner strength.

Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both...Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both.

You're the only one who knows when you're using things to protect yourself and keep your ego together and when you're opening and letting things fall apart, letting the world come as it is - working with it rather than struggling against it. You're the only one who knows.

Tonglen practice begins to dissolve the illusion that each of us is alone with this personal suffering that no one else can understand.