Incorporate The Four Gates Practice Into Your Daily Life

Whenever you're troubled by a particularly bothersome train of thought or feeling, or when you're tempted to say or do something that you're not sure about, put yourself through these four questions, or "gates," which will help make you a real team player:

1. Is it truthful?
2. Is it helpful?
3. Is it kind?
4. What is my motivation and genuine intention here?

If you can say yes to each question - if you can pass through each gate - then go ahead. If not, stop and go no further. You do have the ability to control whether you stop or go, even in the deepest recesses of your mind.

Please don't think you are powerless to do whatever is good for yourself as well as whatever is good for others. Remember: the two acts are one and the same.

- Buddha Is As Buddha Does by Lama Surya Das