Siddhartha was right to think that teaching would be no easy task. In a world that is driven by greed, pride, and materialism, even teaching basic principles such as love, compassion, and philanthropy is very difficult, let alone the ultimate truth of emptiness. We are stuck with our short-term thinking and bound by practicality. For us, something must be tangible and immediately useful in order to be worth our investment of time and energy. By those criteria, emptiness as defined by Buddha seems completely useless.

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
from the book What Makes You Not a Buddhist
Read a random quote or see all quotes by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.
Further quotes from the book What Makes You Not a Buddhist:
- Relationships
- Not paranoid but prepared
- Not a buddha yet
- I don’t give a damn
- Appreciating the whole cycle of impermanence
- The cup that holds the teachings
- Enlightened beings may seem insane
- Buddhist renunciation
- What is life?
- The Self
- The habit of self
- Pride and pity
- Emotionally not possible
- Change is inevitable
- Beyond nonviolence and meditation
- Eventually we are disappointed
- Like a child at the cinema
- Four seals
- Enjoying the bliss of ignorance