The answer lies within ourselves. If we can't find peace and happiness there, it's not going to come from the outside.

We shouldn't be too naïve, or taken in by charisma.

The more you realize, the more you realize how much there is to realize and, at the same time, how much you realize that there is nothing to realize. So, it's an enormous job, not something that is going to be finished in this lifetime.

We live in a society which is heading in one direction, so it's good to have at least a few friends who share the same values and can encourage us and help us to remember that we're not alone or peculiar, but that what we're doing is a very valid way of life. This will encourage us to put the Dharma at the centre of our life and not the periphery, to use our daily life as our Dharma practice.

One of the beauties of the Buddhadharma is there are so many approaches, and not everything is right for everybody.

We have to cultivate contentment with what we have. We really don't need much. When you know this, the mind settles down. Cultivate generosity. Delight in giving. Learn to live lightly. In this way, we can begin to transform what is negative into what is positive. This is how we start to grow up.

A realized being would not be making any fresh karma because karma is very much connected to the ego but would still be receiving the results of past karma.