Daily Dharma

To say that nothing is sacred is sacrilegious, and it also means at the same time that we should revere nothing, from the vast empty expanses of the universe to the void within ourselves.

The script is not fixed. It has infinite possibilities, albeit each with varying probabilities. And we have an incredible gift: the freedom to choose our perspective, the way we see.

The ultimate truth transcends all kinds of notions, including notions of being and nonbeing, birth and death, coming and going. If you don’t let go of these notions, you can never touch the ultimate.

Whatever anger promises to do for us, compassion can do better. As a Buddhist conception, compassion involves sensitivity to the suffering of someone together with the wish that they be freed from that suffering.

Reflecting on impermanence is not meant to make us miserable. But without that sorrow of knowing nothing will last, we will never get anywhere on our path.

Living life in touch with divine spirit lets us see the light of love in all living beings. That light is a resurrecting life force.

One of the definitions of mindfulness is to remember. We can’t be who we are without remembering who we come from and where we come from.

Prayer does involve a discipline of practiced attentiveness, but it’s more than a concentration of thought, a knitting of one’s brows. Contemplative prayer is what gets you out of your head entirely.

When we make choices with sound thought, our life becomes abundant. Our heart opens and we start to notice the suffering of others; wisdom and equanimity are cultivated.

Zen does not promise that we will live longer. It offers something far more profound . . . that we might live fully, and die fully, without clinging, without regret, and with an open, awakened heart.