Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion

human capacity to embody the infinite in our human lives. Since there is no end to this process, there is, as the Zen saying goes, “No anxiety about imperfection,” and, I might add, no egocentric orientation toward achievement or final goal. We are always and already complete Buddhas in our absolute Ground and constantly becoming Buddhas in our hum

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The cause of ill-being is our ignorance. Because we are not able to see that the true nature of life is impermanence, selflessness, and interdependence, we become attached to things, believing that they are permanent. From this thinking arise the roots of affliction and the internal formations, or knots: craving, hatred, pride, doubt, and so forth.

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The teachings of the Buddha are about letting go and opening: you do that in how you relate to the people in your life, how you relate to the situations you’re in, how you relate with your thoughts, how you relate with your emotions. The purpose of your whole life is not to make a lot of money, it’s not to find the perfect marriage, it’s not to bui

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Passion and spaciousness together imply that you care deeply about the world, that you urgently want to fix problems, that you always do your best—and you are unruffled when you fail.

Having this realistic attitude produces a kind of fearlessness —a key attribute for tantrikas. It is not the idiot fearlessness—produced by spirituality—of being sure ... See more