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We don’t need more teachers, we need more students who have learned how not to be students.

It’s no use trying to teach these men anything. They’ve learned so many things already that it has killed them.

The point isn't to get beyond suffering to some kind of freedom; it's just to recognize that suffering IS freedom, in the same way that pleasure is also freedom and pain is also freedom and joy is also freedom and sadness is also freedom and anger is also freedom and ...

He has no real interest in his own freedom. What he wants is reassurance that he is already free and enlightened and needs only to be validated by others. So he seeks out teachers with whom he can feel comfortable, thinking they will give him the needed assurance

A religion is something you do five times a day; spirituality is about living your life from moment to moment. Religion is ritual; spirituality is reality. As long as I am sitting here talking about awakening we are both asleep in our chairs!

All your so-called spiritual teachers are actually your worst enemies, because they’ve taken it upon themselves to interpret the teaching for you.

As long as you think your teacher is a saint, an enlightened being you will probably never be willing to acknowledge that he may be an ordinary jerk who is screwing up both his own life and the lives of all those around him. The ego does not like to admit it has made a mistake.

The ego is always looking for an ideal, a perfect guru or a perfect teaching. Why? Because it can’t stand the sight of its own ugliness and stupidity. It always wants to impress itself with how far ahead of the game it is.