Emotions can be very convincing, very powerful, like a melodrama. They can sound real and true when they’re going on. But, at that time, there was that which was aware of them; an awareness of those emotions as mental objects was established already. And I trusted in that.
Existence is something that can strengthen us, rather than weaken us. We need to put ourselves into perspective; we need to see ourselves in terms of the mass as well as in terms of the individual. When we take life on the extreme level of ‘me’ as a person, we forget the common problem that we share with the rest of humanity…
Rather than identifying with the conditioning of the mind or the body, you get beyond the body itself — not a man or a woman, no nationality, no quality—you do not even identify with Buddha. You take refuge in that pure awareness that is possible for all human beings…
And they dashed in groups! Tea time at Kalachakra was a sight to behold. How else are thirty thousand people going to get their cuppas in such a short time unless it is with great speed? Besides, this was obviously a time-honoured custom and one performed, as with most other things it seemed to me, with joyful vigour…
In many respects, practising Buddhism is the practice of reminding ourselves that to take refuge in impermanence is like building one’s house on shifting sands…
Buddhism now 