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September 20 - October 14, 2025
if it’s the case that two or more people don’t always find that the same things make them happy or unhappy, then it means we are talking about a mental experience within us, not the things around us.
Meditation is not a spa treatment: it is a way to connect with our essence and to become who we truly are.
Meditation helps us to connect with awareness, and it is not about getting rid of the thoughts, but about gaining a broader perspective. The fact that there is this part of the mind which can observe, suggests that our essence is freedom. And as we now know: freedom is happiness.
If deep down, the mind is more than just its thoughts and emotions, this signifies freedom, which is complete happiness. As we gain familiarity with that, we might begin to discover that the mind is essentially good—underneath all of our problems we are okay. That is the meaning of Buddha. Buddha means basic innate goodness, the purity within us.
It is fascinating how much we are our own chemistry lab, and the question is what are we cooking? For many people that lab is unfortunately more like a “meth lab” where we throw together masses of toxic chemicals hoping they will make us feel good—but in reality we are simply “breaking bad.”
The people will not revolt. They will not look up from their screens long enough to notice what’s happening.
We are losing the ability to know what we like; we have to check if other people “like” it first.
Meditation is to let the mind, with its thoughts and emotions, be, but also to have awareness. If we develop that, then it doesn’t matter what the thoughts are doing. The awareness is not caught up in the mental activity.
That is the nature of ignorance: if we don’t know, we simply don’t know—if we know that we don’t know, then we are not confused!
“Trying” and “relax” are complete opposites, as the more we push and “try,” the more relaxation escapes us. On the other hand, simply being present with no agenda, no judgment, allows relaxation to occur naturally.
Actually, the future will occur in the best way possible if we are fully mindful in the present, as right now we are sowing the seeds for a successful future; and when we do need to think about the future, if we can learn to keep our minds present while doing the planning, not thinking about something different, it will give those plans more precision, thus leading to better outcomes.
meditation helps us realize that our thoughts and emotions are not solid in the first place; actually, there is no mess to clean up.
The notion of friendship is anyway a somewhat random and arbitrary process: someone who is our closest friend today may have been a stranger last year, and they may return to that status next year. In that sense, everyone in the world is potentially our best friend—we simply haven’t got to know them yet.
“I am doing this practice not only for myself, but also for others. Through this training, may I eventually be able to help others, in the deepest way possible.”
World peace must develop from inner peace. Peace is not just mere absence of violence. Peace is, I think, the manifestation of human compassion.
The fastest path to enlightenment is for people to insult you. —Akong Tulku Rinpoche
(Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.) —Jean-Paul Sartre
Understanding means to see our shortcomings as part of the human condition.
The Buddhist model of the mind is that it is ultimately and naturally pure, with our negativity and confusion simply like dust on a mirror.
Meditation is all about nonjudgmental presence and awareness. If we’re sick, we’re sick. If we’re tired, we’re tired. We simply need to be aware.
