When I was in retreat I just did my meditation sessions and, in-between, reading and things I had to do.

This precious life is our opportunity. We are not the millions and millions of other things that are not human.

To be enlightened doesn't mean you end up stupefied and unable to function.

I think it would help if, when people are first ordained, they underwent a period of strict training, maybe for several years. During this time they would learn basic Buddhist philosophy in a monastic community where all the teaching and training was directed toward living a perfect monastic life and wasn't channeled out to fit into the lay life - which is what usually happens in Dharma centers where the teachings are directed toward how to live the Dharma in your everyday life.

In the texts, and as His Holiness the Dalai Lama reminds us, we should check the person's behavior not when they're sitting on a big throne, but behind the scenes. How do they treat ordinary people - not the big sponsors - but just ordinary people who are of no particular importance to them.

We're always given the message that our potential is so limited, which is so sad. Actually, our potential is infinite.

If you're meeting with the dharma, you have probably been a human being before.