Holy crap. It’s still cold outside. May I remind the seasons that it is now April, that flowers are waiting to bloom, children are ready to play outside and that all my sweaters are in dire need of cleaning.
In the class I am co-teaching with Ethan Nichtern and Miles Neale on Buddhism and Psychology: Spiritual Awakening NOT Spiritual Bypassing at the Interdependence Project, there has been a good deal of discussion — and...
Many friends and I have all checked out this great smartphone app called Insight Timer, which lets you keep really good track of meditation sessions and connect with other meditators around the world. IDP has several online...
THE NOW - It Shows Up Uninvited
But don't worry, we can shield ourselves from "The Now" by watching Channel 4 news! Or at least that's what is implied by this ad.
Caroline Brett conducts a detailed inquiry into how practitioners of Vajrayana, Zen, and Hindu Tantra natively distinguish between mystical and psychotic states.
Last week was not so much fun, let me put it that way. In case you’re just tuning in now, I was struggling a great deal trying to figure out whether or not to take my Buddhist refuge vow this past weekend. Since the vow was taking place right...
In this post, "Maladjusted Buddhism," on Patheos.com, blogger Nathan Thompson argues that Westerners who have converted to Buddhism are too tied to psychology and its focus on bringing everything toward a norm. Psychology, he says, works with...
Memories are foundational for our sense of self. This is particularly true for early childhood memories (which the scientists tell us are the most unreliable of all).
I used to be one of those Brooklynites who enjoyed a boozy Sunday brunch with friends. Now the tables have turned and I'm the one slingin' eggs and mimosas. And it is one of the best opportunities for practice out there.
"We must understand the nature of our struggle, and how to make our experience of life & death all right. To relinquish the futile effort to control change is one of the strengthening forces of true detachment and thus true love"--...
1. Japanese teacher says: At first light, rise. Don’t hover between sleep and waking, this makes you heavy, puts a stone inside your heart. The minute you drift back to shore, anchor. Breathe. Remember your deepest name. 2. Sometimes objects stun...
Among the people who consciously moved toward Buddhism as an alternative to theistic traditions, it seems that, for many, one of the most attractive features that Buddhism had to offer was its lack of emphasis on heaviness and guilt in its...
It’s another morning, another day of having to live inside a hurting body inherited from a little known, rare genetic condition. I try not to think of how it used to be. I can let go of the younger me, the one who won a yoga Olympics by holding...
I’ve been practicing meditation since 2004. I’m aware of the major benefits that my practice and study have had on my life, and I feel good about taking refuge in the Three Jewels — the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. For the past few months, I’...
I'm in Thailand this week, and I've noticed that a lot of my Buddhist co-workers talk a lot about generating merit. For example, they'll say things like, "I'm going to the wat (a Thai Buddhist temple) for a few weeks to generate...
Welcome to the next Contemplation Station: Barre, Massachusetts. I am being a bit selfish in bringing you here. I am going to an Insight Meditation Society retreat at the end of this week (my first!) and I would like to get to know the lay of the...
You can tell whether something is an aspiration or a god -- whether it's an intention to work toward something or a desire to simply have it -- by the tension around it.
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Something that has become interesting to me in my experience with meditation is not just the ways in which meditation has made me appreciate myself and my life more, but also the effect it has had on my relationships with others.
The meaning of the Prajaparamita
is not to be looked for elsewhere; it exists within yourself.
Neither real nor endowed with characteristics,
The nature is the great clear light.*
This post is a reminder that Daily Sit invites you to practice meditation with a live online community tomorrow morning. Inspired by "Sitting Project," a daily meditation piece, Kim Brown and I thought it would be supportive to the community to...
In doing research in order to write a blog post on the concept of sexual consent in a Buddhist framework, I came across many blog posts broadly written about homosexuality in Buddhist circles but not a lot of discussions around the need for consent...
