Basically, I feel to spend the rest of my life doing retreat.

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

You see people swimming, and you think, oh, how wonderful to swim. But most people stand on the edge swaying back and forth, afraid to jump. They don't think they can swim.

I'd say look at the teacher's students. Do you want to be like them? If you see a good and harmonious sangha, and if they're practicing well and are good people with good hearts, then you have a cause for trust.

We only think about the difficult people and the horrible things that happen. That's what gets all the media attention.

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

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.