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:
- Clinging to our hopes and fears
- Today is the death of yesterday
- Appreciating the whole cycle of impermanence
- The real enemy
- Nonviolence
- Like moths to the flame
- A simple, scientific fact
- Enjoying the bliss of ignorance
- The Self
- Like medicines
- Products and parts
- I don’t give a damn
- Your own ignorance betrays you
- Like monkeys
- The spiritual path is a temporary solution
- Emptiness
- A practicing Buddhist
- Beyond nonviolence and meditation
- Relationships
- Emotionally not possible