"Discipline and resolve allow
one to make choices about what we do and stay strong in the face of
difficulties." P.78
"There is so much completely useless and harmful sectarianism in the spiritual world, within Buddhism and between Buddhism and the other spiritual traditions. People can get so into their particular trip and get all down on the other perfectly good spiritual trips. This is faith out of balance causing rigid adherence to dogma, isn't it? This is a lack of understanding of what the basics are and what are just the inevitable cultural trappings and individual emphases of each tradition." P.85
"I have grown tired of people routinely quoting profound dharma statements from such works as if this represents their understanding when they have no idea what they mean. They seem to derive some false comfort from being able to parrot the masters. While I can understand the appeal of behaving in such ways, as I have done so myself on numerous occasions, I will do my best to keep the second two parts of this book from contributing to this phenomena. Thus, I have intentionally written some sections of Parts II and III in a style that is designed to sound combative and abrasive. Also, I must admit that it was fun to write that way." P.89
"Many seem to have substituted the pain of the pew for the pain of the zafu with the results and motivations being largely the same. It is an imitation of meditation done because meditation seems like a good and noble thing to do. However, it is a meditation that has been designed by those “teachers” who want everyone to be able to feel good that they are doing something “spiritual”."
"There is so much completely useless and harmful sectarianism in the spiritual world, within Buddhism and between Buddhism and the other spiritual traditions. People can get so into their particular trip and get all down on the other perfectly good spiritual trips. This is faith out of balance causing rigid adherence to dogma, isn't it? This is a lack of understanding of what the basics are and what are just the inevitable cultural trappings and individual emphases of each tradition." P.85
"I have grown tired of people routinely quoting profound dharma statements from such works as if this represents their understanding when they have no idea what they mean. They seem to derive some false comfort from being able to parrot the masters. While I can understand the appeal of behaving in such ways, as I have done so myself on numerous occasions, I will do my best to keep the second two parts of this book from contributing to this phenomena. Thus, I have intentionally written some sections of Parts II and III in a style that is designed to sound combative and abrasive. Also, I must admit that it was fun to write that way." P.89
"Many seem to have substituted the pain of the pew for the pain of the zafu with the results and motivations being largely the same. It is an imitation of meditation done because meditation seems like a good and noble thing to do. However, it is a meditation that has been designed by those “teachers” who want everyone to be able to feel good that they are doing something “spiritual”."
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