We're reborn every second, every moment.

I think it's a meritorious action to become a monk, provided that your motivation is pure.

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

I think, for East and West, the first thing we need is a good grounding in basic Buddhadharma.

Let's consider: at the time of the Buddha, when he attained enlightenment, according to the old texts, in the first watch of the night, he went through all of his past lifetimes. Then in the second watch of the night, his mind opened still further and encompassed the coming into being and dying and re-coming into being of all beings, everywhere. The third watch of the night, he realized interdependent origination. He realized interdependent origination because he saw it. It wasn't some theory he thought up. He saw it. That was his enlightenment experience. That was why he was a Buddha.

Distraction is the main problem for us all - what the Buddha called the monkey mind. We need to tame this monkey mind.

My mother was a spiritualist. We had weekly séances at our house with a neighbor who was a medium and various friends, and so I was brought up with the idea that there are many realms of being all around us. So that prepared me for Buddhism, and especially Tibetan Buddhism with all its talk of different realms and dimensions of being.