Dharma (living Truthfully) is not about credentials. It's not about how many practices you've done, or how peaceful you can make your mind. It's not about being in a community where you feel safe or enjoying the cachet of being a 'Buddhist.' It's not even about accumulating teachings, empowerments, or 'spiritual accomplishments.' It's about how naked you're willing to be with your own life, and how much you're willing to let go of your masks and your armor and live as a completely exposed, undefended, and open human person.

Reginald Ray (1942 CE-), Reginald Ray is an American Buddhist academic and teacher. Ray studied Tibetan Buddhism, traditional shamanic wisdom, and yogic-contemplative practices with the Tibetan refugee and recognized Vajrayana traditional-wisdom holder Chögyam Trungpa. A founding academic member of Naropa University, Ray was a longtime senior teacher in Vajradhatu (renamed Shambhala International in 2000) and from 1996 to 2004 was teacher-in-residence at the Rocky Mountain Shambhala Center.