Many of us are slaves to our minds. Our own mind is our worst enemy. We try to focus, and our mind wanders off. We try to keep stress at bay, but anxiety keeps us awake at night. We try to be good to the people we love, but then we forget them and put ourselves first.

Shambhala teachings say we all have the potential to accomplish our enlightened nature - our basic goodness.

Our root fantasy is that "I" am real and that it's possible for "me" to be happy.

The most important thing is having the right mind - a mind that can see it. Once you have an open mind, you see a lot of auspicious coincidence taking place.

The notion of auspiciousness is something positive, something with forward momentum, coming out of our actions.

A book very much is the center of the road, so people always can refer back to it.

Sometimes people feel disappointed when they hear about practicing compassion: "You mean I have to be nice?" It's kind of a letdown. We often overlook compassion, seeing it as merely a pit stop on the way to more advanced practices. We want something more; we don't even know what. But that's just a trick of our mind. One of the greatest teachings is to practice compassion.