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.

The Dharma is a very, very special and precious thing. The more you practice it, the more you will realize this.

We don't want to go to heaven. We want to be reborn so that we can keep going and realize the dharma so we can benefit other beings, endlessly. It's a very different thing.

The Buddha said that samsara by its nature is painful. He didn't say it was a joyride.

A lot of people with the purest motivation end up getting completely burned out. And that's because they lack the wisdom and the skill and the inner space.

The dharma is here. And the dharma is in your heart. Where else would it be?

It's not a matter of how much you know or can define, or how many millions of mantras or thousands of prostrations you have done, or how many months of wangs you've attended. The important thing is whether or not the mind is really changing, whether our negative emotions are really coming under control, whether we are really beginning to understand ourselves, whether our mind is really improving, and whether in our hearts there is genuine love and caring for other people.