Life is as dear to the mute creature as it is to a man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not to die, so do other creatures.
Fasting in the monastic community is considered an ascetic practice, a “dhutanga” practice. Dhutanga means “to shake up” or “invigoration”. The Buddha, as is well known, emphasized moderation, the Middle Way that avoids extremes, in all things. Fasting is an additional method that one can take up, with supervision, for a time.
A person once asked me in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: “Tell me, when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?” We must always consider the person.
Human dignity is independent of national borders. We must always defend the interests of the persecuted in other countries.
The sincere devotee loves God deeply whether he is non-active and silently meditating on God, or in the midst of a whirl of outer activities.
The ancestor of every action is a thought… Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it.
