Life is like jumping out of a plane.
The bad news: there's no parachute.
The good news: there's no ground.

--Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

"Times are difficult globally ( Read more... )

You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it's going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt ( Read more... )

We might think, as we become more open, that it's going to take bigger catastrophes for us to reach our limit. The interesting thing is that, as we open more and more, it's the big ones that immediately wake us up and the little things that catch us off guard. However, no matter what the size, color, or shape is, the point is still to lean toward ( Read more... )

It’s fantastic to look at people and see that they really, deep down, are enlightened. They’re It. They’re faces of the divine ( Read more... )

An agnostic Buddhist eschews atheism as much as theism, and is as reluctant to regard the universe as devoid of meaning as endowed with meaning. For to deny either God or meaning is simply the antithesis of affirming them. Yet such an agnostic stance is not based on disinterest. It is founded on a passionate recognition that I do not know. It ( Read more... )

He was 68 years old. He died in hospice of melanoma, which was discovered last year in his brain. He never recognized the skin lesion. He was one of my original paddling buddies here in Portland, a retired engineer and a budding Buddhist. He loved his wife and their home by the Washougal river, where he could watch osprey and otters. His hospice ( Read more... )

Speak or act with a pure mind
and happiness will follow you
as your shadow, unshakable.
--Gautama

People take different roads
seeking fulfillment and happiness.
Just because they're not on your road,
doesn't mean they've gotten lost.
--Dalai Llama

( Read more... )