“A fairy land of flowers, and fruit, and sunshine, and crystal lakes, and over-arching forests,…”
— Edgar Allan Poe, from “Scenes of an Unpublished Drama,”
“Trust and respect are the emptiness and form of romance. To attempt to be happy with each other without trust and respect is impossible. This is a cast-iron rule. This means that you must listen to each other with open minds and open hearts. Without sufficient trust and respect you will always fear each other and live as intimate adversaries in an uncertain truce. Most couples to one degree or another do live merely as intimate adversaries, but for practitioners this is obviously something to be avoided. The first step is to root out lack of trust and lack of respect. Do not offer distrust and disrespect and do not accept either from each other. In terms of non-acceptance of distrust and disrespect, this needs to be pointed out with the greatest kindness and consideration – and without blame.”
From ‘E-mailing the Lamas from Afar’ by Khandro Déchen and Ngak’chang Rinpoche
