Daily Dharma

Bodhisattvas don’t need all to be right and peaceful in the world to offer our own peace of mind. However the world manifests itself, we have a job to do.

A vibrant and ongoing sense of local community that takes meaningful actions cannot be created without vulnerably connecting over stories and releasing our layers of personal and collective grief, rage, fear, and guilt-shame.

The true declaration of love is, “Dear one, I am here for you,” because the most precious gift you can give to your loved one is your true presence, with body and mind united in solidity and freedom.

We don’t need to go to some faraway place to attain Buddhahood. We don’t need to become someone special. We can commune dynamically with the universe as and where we are and fully reveal the brilliance of our own innate ‘true aspect’—that is, our true self as an entity of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Sometimes I ask myself the question: What does my body want? And I practice to respond to my world from that place.

Science often leads me to the door of wonder, teaching me to see new things with my eyes. But practice is what trains me to enter, leaving behind my sight.

Meditators who are having a difficult time achieving a peaceful state of mind sometimes start thinking, “Here we go again, another hour of frustration.” But often something strange happens; although they are anticipating failure, they reach a very peaceful meditative state.

Our practice is our whole life. It’s not about the fifteen or thirty minutes on the cushion; it’s about seeing how much presence, awareness, kindness, joy, and freedom we’re bringing to each moment.

Like the true affections of a great mother, our awareness is naturally loving, unconditionally compassionate, and nonjudgmental. Like a great mother, it stays with us always, no matter what happens in our lives.

A student once asked the spiritual teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti what his secret to peace and contentment was. He leaned over and whispered to the student: “I don’t mind what happens.”