It's one thing to have the attitude of enlightenment and another thing to act in an enlightened way, which is conduct or activity.

We humans have come to a crossroads in our history: we can either destroy the world or create a good future.

You have people who are good at English but don't have the training in Buddhism or Shambhala, or they have the training but are not good in English. Getting that mixture is really rare.

I would say courage first; then wisdom, which is a sense of knowledge and confidence; and also the wish and desire to uplift. The underlying notion is "How do I help?" That attitude really is a spiritual journey and a path.

We want to infuse our day with good habits so that we can turn seemingly mundane situations into a ceremony of goodness.

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.

Shambhala can be relevant in terms of what is going on in the world.