You cannot do it. The best way to control people is to encourage them to be mischievous. Then they will be in control in its wider sense. To give your sheep or cow a large, spacious meadow is the way to control him. So it is with people: first let them do what they want, [...]

No matter what the degree of suffering, everyone—intellectual, fool, even the animals that know nothing—tries to solve problems by various methods requiring continuous struggle. Some are able to ameliorate their suffering a little by skillful means, while others, ignorant of technique, cannot even begin to solve their own problems. Whether it’s the frustration of getting [...]

Even at the times we feel most stuck, we are never alienated from the awakened state. This is a revolutionary assertion. Even ordinary people like us with hang-ups and confusion have this mind of enlightenment called bodhi­chitta. The openness and warmth of bodhichitta is, in fact, our true nature and condition. Even when our neurosis [...]

What Buddhism does say is that life, by its nature, is difficult, flawed, and imperfect. For most of us, this fact of life hardly merits a news flash. Who among us has a per­fect life? Of course, we would like it to be delightful and wonderful all the time. But it’s not going to happen. [...]

In that continuity we hope to find security, because the brain can only function excellently when it is completely se­cure—secure from terrorism, secure in a belief, secure in knowledge, and so on. All that comes to an end when there is death. I may have hope for a next life and all that stuff, but [...]

rather than worldly achievement or the enlargement of worldly capacities. In meditation there is a close connection between what is done and how it is done. It may happen that the contents of experience have such overwhelming power that they force us into certain postures or literally throw us to our knees. On the other [...]

If your mind is not used to meditating and these longer periods are difficult, shorter sessions might be helpful. Even ten minutes can be beneficial, especially if repeated several times throughout the day. For ex­ample, you could meditate for ten to fifteen minutes upon wak­ing, ten to fifteen minutes before lunch, ten to fifteen minutes [...]

by embracing with wakefulness and care our moment-to-moment expe­rience. By accepting absolutely everything, what I mean is that we are aware of what is happening within our body and mind in any given moment, without trying to control or judge or pull away. I do not mean that we are putting up with harmful behavior—our [...]

Genuineness means that you can trust the person because they are not conning themselves, and they won’t con you. They have seen it all about themselves. It does not mean that they are not still embarrassed or uncomfortable about what they see, but they don’t run away. The truth doesn’t cause them to avoid feeling [...]

People leave their homes and seek opportunities in distant countries, and as a result, we are like­ly to be sharing our community with people of different cultures and nationalities. Immigration is another indication of the global dimension of our interdependence. The presence of immigrants can be a test case for compassion in many societies. We [...]