Generosity need not be applied only in the material realm. We can also cultivate a spirit of generosity in whatever problem we are working on. We do this by making an offering of ourselves – offering a hand, offering a word, offering heart and mind – as a positive condition in any situation we find ourselves in. This attitude extends our open heart and mind into action and keeps us ready to act to benefit others. ~ 17th Karmapa

Some people find it hard to see their own inner beauty. They wish to learn to be kinder to themselves but do not know how to go about doing so. I would say that in being loving and affectionate towards others, you can discover affection and kindness towards yourself. The best way to love oneself and care for oneself is to love others. ~ 17th Karmapa

Learning how to paint with my younger brother and sister at the 1000 Kicks Fundraising Event on March 24, 2018.

May we gain conviction in the view,
wherein samsara and nirvana are the same.

May we have consummate skill in meditation,
a natural flow unaltered, uncontrived.

May we bring our action to perfection,
a natural, unintended, spontaneity.

May we find the dharmakaya,
beyond all gaining and rejection.

~ Dudjom Rinpoche

Ultimately, your state of mind determines your circumstances. To realize the outcomes you want, it is critical to recognize and experience the transition from our present thoughts, habits, and actions to new thoughts, habits, and actions. – Darren L. Johnson

As it is said in the teachings, first think that every happiness — day-to-day happiness; future life happiness (deva and human rebirth); nirvana, the blissful state of peace for oneself which is experienced forever; and even the total cessation of the obscurations and completion of realizations, the peerless happiness — comes from the mind.

All the happiness that we experience came from our mind, and all the suffering — hell, hungry ghost, animal, human being —came from our mind. That’s because in the past we created nonvirtue as well as harming others. All our suffering came from that and all our happiness came from virtue. So our mind is the basic creator, not God, not Buddha, Dharma, Sangha.

~ Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Great compassion makes a peaceful heart. A peaceful heart makes a peaceful person. A peaceful person makes a peaceful family. A peaceful family makes a peaceful community. A peaceful community makes a peaceful nation. A peaceful nation makes a peaceful world. ― Maha Ghosananda

Maybe it’s wrong-footed trying to fit people into the world, rather than trying to make the world a better place for people. ― Paul McHugh, in The New Yorker

Snow scene on Thursday March 15, 2018.

There is pleasure when a sore is scratched,
But to be without sores is more pleasurable still.
Just so, there are pleasures in worldly desires,
But to be without desires is more pleasurable still.

~Nagarjuna