Sublime

The opposite of samsara is when all the walls fall down, when the cocoon completely disappears and we are totally open to whatever may happen, with no withdrawing, no centralizing into ourselves. That is what we aspire to, the warrior’s journey.

Trungpa Rinpoche said that if enough people have confidence in basic goodness and our ability to pull ourselves up and be there for others, then when the challenges become great, instead of going down, society will grow stronger.

What matters is whether we learn to play our instrument well or badly. That’s going to take discipline and practice, no matter how or where we do it. Maybe it’s not so important which instrument we choose, as long as we can make it ours. Likewise, there is no need to stick with an instrument to which we don’t feel very suited because we’ve heard th

The buddha is the awakened one, and we too are the buddha. It’s simple. We are the buddha. It’s not just a way of speaking. We are the awakened one, meaning one who continually leaps, one who continually opens, one who continually goes forward. It isn’t easy and it’s accompanied by a lot of fear, a lot of resentment, and a lot of doubt. That’s what

Wholeheartedness is a precious gift, but no one can actually give it to you. You have to find the path that has heart and then walk it impeccably. In doing that, you again and again encounter your own uptightness, your own headaches, your own falling flat on your face. But in wholeheartedly practicing and wholeheartedly following that path, this in

The safest and most nurturing place to begin working this way is during sitting meditation. On the cushion, we begin to get the hang of not indulging or repressing and of what it feels like to let the energy just be there. That is why it’s so good to meditate every single day and continue to make friends with our hopes and fears again and again. Th

YOU’RE NOT THE limited, anxious person you think you are. Any trained Buddhist teacher can tell you with all the conviction of personal experience that, really, you’re the very heart of compassion, completely aware, and fully capable of achieving the greatest good, not only for yourself, but for everyone and everything you can imagine.

We need to remind ourselves over and over that this approach always has to be accompanied by the sitting practice of meditation. Meditation acts as a training ground, a stronghold, and out of that, the seed of friendliness to oneself is planted. The main point is to appreciate our world, which becomes the vajra world, the warrior’s world, which is