There is no armor like perseverance.

At every moment in our lives we need compassion, but what more urgent moment could there be than when we are dying? What more wonderful and consoling gift could you give to dying people than the knowledge that they are being prayed for, and that you are taking on their suffering and purifying their negative karma through your practice for them?

The masters say if you create an auspicious condition in your body and your environment then meditation and realization will automatically arise.

Western laziness consists of cramming our lives with compulsive activity, so that there is no time at all to confront the real issues.

Learning to live is learning to let go.

Let the sky outside awake a sky inside your mind.

Switch on the television or glance at the newspaper: You will see death everywhere. Yet, did the victims of those plane crashes and car accidents expect to die? They took life for granted, as we do. How often do we hear stories of people whom we know, or even friends, who died unexpectedly? We don't even have to be ill to die: Our bodies can suddenly break down and go out of order, just like our cars. We can be quite well one day, then fall sick and die the next.