A Monk's life has to do with simplicity, curiosity and compassion - contrary to the popular notion, it has no direct relation to poverty and seclusion.

Curiosity, humility and compassion, these are the fundamental pillars of monkhood, if you have these in your life, then you are a monk, regardless of your financial status and relationship status.

if your purpose is to find enlightenment, then seek it not outside, but inside, and if your purpose is helping others, then renounce nothing but your obsession for possessions and help those in need in whichever way you can.

Be one and be civilized. By civilized I don't mean that phony kind of civilized pretense where you pretend to be egalitarian, yet the moment your kid brings home a partner of color, or of a different religion, you instantaneously burst out in shock and try either to break them apart by all cheap means available, or to convert your future in-law into your own religion. Such primitive act is no different from the acts of terrorism.

We live in graves and call them home, and we further sustain the neurotic structure of those graves with elements of so-called sociological, cultural, traditional, religious, political and intellectual significance.

La bonté est la piété.

I am not here to peddle you anything – I am not here to convert you either – I am here on earth to be an example of liberation – and if that example appeals to your civilized and conscientious psyche, then embrace it without judging other people’s methods or the paths they walk on.

Authoritarianism has no place in religion. If you want to have true religion in your heart, then burn the scriptures and go out in the world to end misery.

Call it love, call it kindness, call it spirituality, call it justice, it's all one.