There are wars, there's pestilence, there are plagues, there is corruption in religious circles, corruption in the government, when was it not?

Whether we're in retreat or out in the world, we should try to develop the quality of awareness as much as possible.

In our endless past lives, we've all done everything, you name it, we've done it. Good, bad, intermediate.

Wherever we are and whatever we're doing, we're either conscious, or we're not.

Every country that meets Buddhism molds it into their own indigenous religion, as America will. A very clear example of this is Japan, which threw out almost all the dharma, and just kept that essence, which spoke to them.

It's only when all the dust is completely gone from the mirror, and there is only mirror, no dust, that we're really enlightened. So that's a lot of work.

When you learn an instrument, it takes an awful lot of time to just learn the scales, and then eventually when you have completely mastered the instrument, the music plays for you. But you still have to keep practicing. And it takes an awful lot of practice. Nonetheless, if you diligently practice, hours and hours and hours and hours, you probably won't get it. You'll probably just end up hurting your fingers.