We can't hire out our own inner work, but we can do the manual labor with delight and decency.

I think Shambhala can be a very strong force as a social example of how you can try to live a life balanced in terms of both the spiritual and the secular.

A lot of people dabbling means Buddhism has come into the mainstream, where people begin to use these terms and ideas, and they become less foreign.

After you run, there's a sense of accomplishment; you feel like your life is meaningful. It's a moment of clarity.

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.

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

Each of us holds human destiny in our hands. It will be completely determined by how the mind feels about itself.