When we practice metta, we open continuously to the truth of our actual experience, changing our relationship to life.

As we look around, it's very clear that in this world people do outrageous things to one another all of the time. It's not that these qualities or actions make us bad people, but they bring tremendous suffering if we don't know how to work with them.

What unites us as human beings is an urge for happiness which at heart is a yearning for union.

When we practice metta, we open continuously to the truth of our actual experience, changing our relationship to life.

We do good because it frees the heart. It opens us to a wellspring of happiness.

What comes up is not nearly as important as how you relate to what comes up.

I am totally amazed at the spread of interest in meditation. When I first came back from studying in India in 1974, I would be asked in social situations what I did. When I replied, "I teach meditation" they would frequently look at me as though to say "That is weird," and sort of sidle away.