The ultimate purpose of Zen,' I remembered the roshi telling me, 'is not in the going away from the world but in the coming back. Zen is not just a matter of gaining enlightenment; it's a matter of acting in… — Pico Iyer Copy Share Image
[The Dalai Lama] told me some years ago, "I've made every concession to China, and I've been as open and tolerant as I could, and still things get worse in Tibet." If you look at it from one point of view, as he himself says, his monastic position of forbearance and nonviolence hasn't reaped any benefits. And yet, he's thinking… — Pico Iyer Copy Share
For citizens who think themselves puppets in the hands of their rulers, nothing is more satisfying than having rulers as puppets in their hands. — Pico Iyer Copy Share Image
The Dalai Lama would say that meditation is something that can help everyone. But he's aware that it can be misused or things can… — Pico Iyer Copy Share Image
Like any traveler, I'm always looking for those experiences that are almost unique to any place, and watching films around Alaska of the skies… — Pico Iyer Copy Share Image
“When you're hurrying around too quickly," he had said, "there's a part of the world you can't see. If, for example, you're taking a wrong direction in your life, it's only when you stop and look at things clearly that you can revise your direction and take a more proper course. Then message of Zen is that in order to… — Pico Iyer Copy Share
We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. — Pico Iyer Copy Share Image
The Dalai Lama, these days, encourages Westerners not to take up Buddhism, partly because he feels that our roots are deep in other traditions,… — Pico Iyer Copy Share Image
And if travel is like love, it is, in the end, mostly because it's a heightened state of awareness, in which we are mindful,… — Pico Iyer Copy Share Image
As soon as I began to talk to Dalai Lama, I realized that Chinese and Tibetans from his point of view are mostly the… — Pico Iyer Copy Share Image
When we are kids, we imagine that to define ourselves or to find ourselves means charting your own individuality, making your own destiny, and… — Pico Iyer Copy Share Image
In barely one generation, we've moved from exulting in the time-saving devices that have so expanded our lives to trying to get away from… — Pico Iyer Copy Share Image
