When we die nothing can be taken with us but the seeds of our life's work and our spiritual knowledge.

Before we seek refuge from suffering, we must first deepen our understanding of its nature and causes. Doing so intensifies our wish to find protection from suffering. Such a mental process, which incorporates study and contemplation, must also be applies to develop our appreciation of the Buddha's qualities.

We speak of three different types of faith. The first is faith in the form of admiration that you have toward a particular person or a particular state of being. The second is aspiring faith. There is a sense of emulation - you aspire to attain that state of being. The third type is the faith of conviction.

True enlightenment is nothing but the nature of one's own self being fully realized.

If object and people evoke attachment in us, we do not understand the true nature of phenomena. We can only become detached by realizing the true nature of things.

If any sensible person thinks deeply, he will respect justice. There is an inborn appreciation and respect for justice within our human body. In children, we find what is natural to be the human character. But as they grow up, they develop a lot of conditioning and wrong attitudes. I often feel there is more truthfulness in a small child and I find reasons to have confidence in human courage and human nature.

Within oneself, within each single person, one finds many inconsistencies and contradictions. sometimes the disparity between one's thoughts early and late in the day is so great that one spends all one's energy trying to figure out how it can be resolved. This can lead to headaches. So naturally, between two persons, between parents and children, between brothers and sisters, there are differences. conflicts and disagreements are bound to happen. If so, then how do we deal with them? If we have confidence in our capacity for reconciliation then we will be able to deal with these situations.

The mind must be developed by you alone. There is no way for others to do the work and for you to reap the results. reading someone else's blueprint of mental progress will not transfer its realizations to you. You have to develop them yourself.

When a problem first arises, try to remain humble and maintain a sincere attitude, and be concerned that the outcome is fair.

I feel that love and compassion are the moral fabric of world peace. Let me first define what I mean by compassion. When you have pity or compassion for a very poor person, you are showing sympathy because he or she is poor; your compassion is based on altruistic considerations. On the other hand, love towards you wife, your husband, your children, or a close friend is usually based on attachment. When your attachment changes, your kindness also changes; it may disappear. This is not true love. Real love is not based on attachment, built on altruism.

To develop patience, you need someone who willfully hurts you. Such people give us real opportunities to practice tolerance. They test our inner strength in a way that even our guru cannot. Basically, patience protests us from being discouraged.

The female is the source of genuine human compassion.

Whatever forms of meditation you practice, the most important point is to apply mindfulness continuously, and make a sustained effort. It is unrealistic to expect results from meditation within a short period of time. What is required is continuous sustained effort.

We are now in the twenty-first century... The world is also facing a lot of new problems, most of which are man made. The root cause of these man made problems is the inability of human being to control their agitated minds. How to control such a state of mind is taught by the various religions of this world.

I am of the view that the welfare of the world [is] possible only by following the path shown by lord Buddha.

The impermanence of this present life will force you to leave all wealth behind, bu by giving it away, you can take it with you as good karma.

There is no reason to give up hope, because we have this marvelous intelligence. Because of this intelligence we also have a certain positive potential.

Not so long ago people believed in ideologies, systems, and institutions to save all societies. Today, they have given up such hopes and have returned to relying on the individual, on individual freedom,individual initiative, individual creativity.

I have long looked forward to the time when we could devise a political system, suited both to our traditions and to the demands of the modern world. A democracy that has nonviolence and peace at its roots.

In general, I always state that I have three commitments in life. On the level of a religious practitioner, my second commitment is the promotion of religious harmony and understanding amongst different religious traditions. Despite philosophical differences, all major world religions have the same potential to create better human beings. It is therefore important for all religious traditions to respect one another and recognize the value of each other's respective traditions.