The message is always to examine and see for yourself. When you see for yourself what is true – and that’s really the only way that you can genuinely know anything – then embrace it. until then, just suspend judgment and criticism.
 

We cannot hold Truth with words. We can only see it, experience it, for ourselves.
 

Truth does not need any explanation. It only needs to be seen.
 

Generally we think of a journey as involving movement and direction, either going out somewhere into the world or else leading inward, into the self. But in Buddhism our journey must go nowhere – neither in nor out. Rather, ours is a journey into nearness, into immediacy. Our journey must be to awaken here and now, to awaken to here and now. To be fully alive, we must be fully present.
 

The Buddha-Dharma does not invite us to dabble in abstract notions. Rather, the task it presents us with is to attend to what we actually experience, right in this moment. You don’t have to look ‘over there.’ You don’t have to figure anything out. You don’t have to acquire anything. And you don’t have to run off to Tibet, or Japan, or anywhere else. You wake up right here. In fact, you can only wake up right here. So you don’t have to do the long search, the frantic chase, the painful quest. You’re already right where you need to be. The table is spread before you. Let’s look at how to eat.
 

Only when I open my fist can you see if there’s a jewel in it or not. And once I do open it, the need for – and the usefulness of – belief vanishes. You can see for yourself whether or not there’s a jewel, and you can base your actions on what you see, rather than on what you think.
 

Truth comes to us through seeing. To see is to Know.
 

Nature has its checks and balances. We tend to override them with our thoughts. We can, however, make a conscious effort to see, and let the balance restore itself. With seeing, restoring balance is no more problematic and sacrificial than not putting our hand in a flame. When we see what the act entails, we just don’t have the urge to do it anymore.
 

The Buddha-Dharma doesn’t ask us to give up control. Instead, it acknowledges that we never had it in the first place. When we can see this, the desire to control naturally begins to wane. The point is not to try to stop exerting control, or to condemn the desire to control as bad or wrong. The point is to see things as they are, to acknowledge what’s really going on. Through such acknowledgment and recognition, we can cease to suffer.
 

We can’t comprehend Reality with our intellects. We can’t pull it into a static view of some thing. All our explanations are necessarily provisional. They’re just rigid frames of what is actually motion and fluidity.
 

Meditation begins and ends with your intention. If you lose track of your intention to be awake, you’re no longer in meditation. If you intend to meditate, then you must do your meditation now. Meditation is simply to be here, now. If you want to meditate, meditate now – even as you read this book.
 

If you would honor a teacher, you would only need to learn from that teacher, respectfully test their teachings against your own experience, and live with a grateful heart.
 

We have to realize what we are. The range of what is human is vast, ranging from the saintly to the monstrous. When we speak of other human beings as if they somehow do not belong to our species, we ignore the reality of our very nature.
 

If you would awaken, the point is not so much to be concerned with the actual words you speak, or even their tone. Instead, be concerned with observing your own heart and mind. Then speak out of your awareness of what you observe – in your heart, mind, and situation. The words you select, and their tone, will follow appropriately. And you will be speaking and listening out of wisdom and compassion.
 

Rules and regulations are only handy when we don’t see. The point of precepts is to see, to live in accordance with Reality, not to follow rules blindly. If you see, you don’t need rules. In fact, rules become a hindrance. They bind our natural freedom of mind. In seeing, your actions become like leaves that land in the natural spot on the lawn.
 

You will gradually learn to sit like a mountain. Though thoughts will arise, they are merely clouds passing by the mountain. The mountain need not be perturbed by clouds. The clouds pass on, and the mountain continues to sit – observing all, grasping at nothing.