QUOTES
"To
finish building the free society dreamed of by Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson,
we must draw upon the resources of the enlightened imagination, which can be systematically
developed by the spiritual sciences of India and Tibet. We have not yet tamed
our own demons of racism, nationalism, sexism, and materialism. We have not yet
made peace with a land we took by force and have only partly paid for. We are
a teeming conglomeration of people from different tribes who have yet to embrace
fully the humanness in one another. And none of us can be really free until all
of us are."
"The
tradition of nonviolence, optimism, concern for the individual, and unconditional
compassion that developed in Tibet is the culmination of a slow inner revolution,
a cool one, hard to see, that began 2,500 years ago with the Buddha's insight
about the end of suffering. What I have learned from these people has forever
changed my life, and I believe their culture contains an inner science particularly
relevant to the difficult time in which we live."
"Enlightenment
is not meant to be an object of religious faith. It is an evolutionary goal, something
we want to become
"On
the collective level, we have unwittingly shifted from being a nation of liberators,
defenders of freedom, into becoming a nation of arms dealers and mercenaries,
fabricating our own weapons of mass destruction and arming tyrants with the tools
to oppress their own people. Within our own society, we jail more prisoners than
any other country in the world, 85 percent of them people of nonwhite races —
red, black, brown, and yellow. We are one of the few nations that still indulge
in the death penalty for increasing numbers of these prisoners. We must become
mindful of these negative things, since we need not support these actions of our
nation to be affected negatively by their evolutionary impact, unless we mentally,
verbally, and ultimately physically, disassociate ourselves from them."
"There
is nothing more evil than hate. Long years of good work can go to waste because
of a single spasm of hate. You may have spent a long time cultivating a relationship,
and one day you become confused and perceive that friend is an enemy to your happiness.
You suddenly explode in anger, lose control, and hurt your friend verbally or
physically. We hear about this every day in circumstances ranging from domestic
violence to all-out war.
"Enemy:
when you look closely, you see that this person is not filled with intrinsic hatefulness.
You realize that this man was the helpless pawn of his greed; that this man was
trapped in his fear; and hence he acted out toward you. But you should not hate
him in return; you should feel compassion for him! Most people we perceive as
'antagonists' are merely struggling individuals trapped in their bounded worldview,
desperately trying to pursue their own happiness. They are lost souls in desperate
need of assistance. And we are enlightened beings capable of reaching out and
helping them."
