Infinite Smile

"It's never anyone else's fault."

"This issue of presence goes way beyond charisma or shakti. Presence is deeper than this magnetism, and yet this is a byproduct of being fully there; fully here."

"Really being clear about what we're avoi allows us to see what's behind the veil. Seeing behind the veil we free ourselves and everyone else."

"Letting life happen, knowing that it's all temporary, we awaken to a space that helps us meet all forms of difficulty from peace."

"There are certain paths that our spiritual development seems to follow. SNORP is one of them."

"Let go, then participate. This is the teaching. This is a dance with the Infinite."

"It's our spiritual friends that enable us to see ourselves through others' eyes."

"Any teaching that tells us we have to wait for another lifetime in order to awaken isn't worth much. But I'm not attaching to that view."

"Saying that there should be no hierarchy establishes a hierarchy."

"When uncertainty is the reality, how can we find motivation to practice?"

"Getting caught by our doubt inhibits our enlightenment just like any other attachment."

What happens when our self-esteem is recognized as far less important than our realization? In this talk, Michael talks about how the ego wants to believe in itself and wants to avoid the recognition of what is beyond itself. It's in our ordinariness, he says, that we are at our most powerful.

In this talk, Michael talks about the guidance offered by the famed Heart Sutra, and uses its closing words to illustrate the Path.

"The world is illusiory, but it is also very real for those of us living in it."

"If you want to kill a relationship, grasp it."

Enjoy the dialog Michael shares with Vince Horn, the host of the Buddhist Geeks podcast. Topics range from children to Svabhavikakaya to good beer.

"The greed impulse is always fear-based at its core. Generosity, on the other hand, is born out of fearlessness."

"None of this work is about denying the ego. Rather, it's all about going past it."

"Whenever we can meet our life fully, we automatically move the stones that keep the waters of life from flowing freely."

"When we act from a place of greed, we are generating a tangle in our lives we can easily call karma."