My body is not good for prostrations.
In the early '60s there was very little reliable information on Tibetan Buddhism. I was living in London and I had joined the Buddhist Society. For the most part, people there were either interested in Theravada or Zen Buddhism. There was almost no one into Tibetan Buddhism at that time.
All the other religions I had ever read about dealt with the idea of God, and your relationship with God. Buddhism is the only religion that deals with man himself and the nature of the mind - how to deal with yourself and your condition, here and now, as opposed to having to deal with something outside yourself.
We don't want to go to heaven. We want to be reborn so that we can keep going and realize the dharma so we can benefit other beings, endlessly. It's a very different thing.
Different people are different.
There is a basic problem that a lot of Western monks and nuns become ordained without really understanding or appreciating what the monastic life is all about.
If you see young tulkus when they're with other little monks, it's like in a Broadway show or something where the main character is spotlighted and the others kind of fade into the background. And you think, who is that tulku? Because that's all you see, even though they're all dressed the same and they're all the same age, but it's like the tulku is illumined. They don't look like the other ones.
I think many monks hesitate to change things.
If nuns begin getting more empowered, where does that leave us?
I think, for East and West, the first thing we need is a good grounding in basic Buddhadharma.
Until you are open, you cannot receive.
Obviously being relaxed doesn't mean that you make no effort.
Until time and space exist... I vow to come back for the benefit of other beings.
Joining the Sangha and renouncing worldly life is necessary in order to devote your whole life and all your energies toward the Dharma.
You can certainly learn how to rest in the nature of the mind.
