The Dude and the Zen Master

If I can somehow take a leap and see the workings of the whole universe, I’ll see lots of things that are not at peace with others. Wolves attack sheep, weeds kill flowers; that’s life. I’ve worked all my years to reduce suffering, but I don’t try to change the wolves or the weeds.

No matter how hard we try, situations come up that we’ll want to separate from and leave behind us. But if you are going somewhere else, let me say this much: At least change the boat and the oars. Say I get to the other side, what do I do? Well, I got here thanks to this beautiful boat with the set of oars, so I’ll just hold on to them and carry t

BERNIE: The Chinese language is made of symbols rather than letters. Their word for difficulty consists of two characters, and one of the characters is opportunity. Hidden within every difficulty is an opportunity. I’ve worked a lot in the world of business, and the problems you run into in business become golden opportunities.

Life’s not about not getting knocked over, it’s about how fast you come back. So if you think, Oh, I got knocked over and that’s a sign that I’m not practicing well enough, all that happened was that you met a situation that was a little bigger than you, and that gave you a new opportunity for more practice.

remember one occasion when he was doing one of his TV shows and a director was talking to a camera assistant or a PA, getting very angry and not showing respect. My father went up to the director and said in front of everybody, “I will be in my trailer when you’re ready to apologize to this guy that you’ve offended. Come in and let me know.” I was

Being a Texan, he’s got a lot of one-liners that are music for the soul, like, “You know what your problem is? You don’t realize who I think I am.” Or sometimes he switches it: “You know what my problem is? I don’t realize who you think you are.”

I met Bernie at a dinner thrown by a neighbor of mine for him and Ram Dass, author of Be Here Now and many other wonderful books. I sat between these two guys and had a great time. Bernie and I really hit it off; we both cared about a lot of the same stuff.

you know what your story reminds me of? Those dolls that are full of sand at the bottom. You push them and they oscillate quickly from side to side, and then come back to center. So as you practice, you’re filling up with sand. At first, even a weak force hits you and almost knocks you over, but you oscillate in big arcs till you come up standing a

My definition of enlightenment is realizing the oneness of life. And whatever you exclude and call not me, or whatever you’re not willing to deal with, is going to thwart you. Any action you take that does not include all viewpoints is going to fail, and it will fail exactly in the areas you excluded.