You think you're enlightened. But as my lama said, when you realize the intrinsic nature of the mind, then you start to meditate. It's not the end, it's the beginning.

We don't always need to be sitting at the foot of the teacher, but from time to time we need someone who can overview us and give us direction.

If you don't find that people find you're easier to live with than you were before, if you don't find that your heart is feeling warmer toward others and if your negative emotions are not getting any better, then there's something wrong. That is always the touchstone of the Dharma practice.

People talk over and over about bodhichitta, but so often their heart is quite cold.

We have compassion because of the incredible pain and suffering which we as unenlightened beings cause to ourselves and all others through our ignorance. This is why we're trying to get out. This is why the bodhisattva has meaning. Because we're saying, no we won't get out, we won't escape until we've helped all other beings to escape, but most other beings don't even want to escape. They don't even know that there is an escape, and it's hard, so it's going to take an awfully long time.

People get very deep experiences and they think they're enlightened. That's not enlightenment, that's just some realization.

When we read history we find that in all ages people have thought, this is the dark age.