What the Angel Asked the Buddha

How are we to nurture truth and peace in the midst of a world besieged by moral disintegration and violence? The Buddha gave an angel this advice: “Not apart from awakening and austerity, not apart from sense restraint, not apart from relinquishing all, do I see any safety for human beings.” Just so, we see that our ethical footprint surpasses despairing over the state of the conditioned world. We wander undaunted through the labyrinth of the mind, growing in pure awareness, integrity, insight and compassion – the path to awakening itself. OBS retreat, Arnprior, Ontario, 2007.