Merit clears away obstacles.

We are educated. We can think. We have the freedom to think.

The Buddha always emphased the important of good friends.

If you take the time to study how to be a doctor and how to use your scalpel and your medicine, then there are endless beings out there to help.

The more you realize, the more you realize how much there is to realize and, at the same time, how much you realize that there is nothing to realize. So, it's an enormous job, not something that is going to be finished in this lifetime.

I sometimes feel tremendous compassion and helplessness.

If you don't find that people find you're easier to live with than you were before, if you don't find that your heart is feeling warmer toward others and if your negative emotions are not getting any better, then there's something wrong. That is always the touchstone of the Dharma practice.