Good Reads

reb • el [ré-buhl]
One who questions, resists,  refuses to obey, or rises against unjust or unreasonable control of an authority or tradition.

bud-duh [bü´-duh]
The awakened mind.

When I left home I only had enough room to pack 2 books into my backpack. "Rebel Buddha" by Dzogchen Ponlop, was the latest book i had purchased, and I had been saving it for quite a while. I knew the moment I bought my plane ticket that this was the time for it. I first opened it when I boarded my flight to Los Angeles ,and this evening I reached the last page. I thought I would share a few notes I marked that really stood out to me:

1. The desire for freedom-not just external freedom, but the state of being free-is transformative.

2. One of the greatest contributions we can make to our world is to learn how to live in harmony with each other.

3. The best approach is to sit without any expectations, without any hope or fear about the result.

4.  In many cases, kindness is all you can offer - and all you need to offer.

5. As long as we're here, we might as well learn from the child we once were.

6. You must respect the integrity of each individual and your own limitations.

7. If we can look at our own mind more positively, with a sense of appreciation, then there is no way not to appreciate the world.

8. Real ignorance is not knowing what you don't know.

9. Knowing clearly what you don't know is already a form of wisdom.

10. If we're ever to understand who we are as individuals and societies, then we need to see the interdependence of culture, identity, and meaning.