A Manhattan taxi cab is one of the last places you'd expect to find ease or to try shamata -- calm-abiding -- meditation. But if you take a cab this week, you may find yourself listening to guided meditations (in addition to honking horns and...
For the past few weeks, I've been on hiatus from leading a weekly mindfulness meditation group so that I can complete a Super-8 filmmaking class with the Brooklyn-based filmmaking and teaching collective Mono No Aware. I have a fear of using...
I believe it was Dr. Seuss who said:
All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you’ll be quite a lot.
-from Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
I was lost. Somehow I had ended up on the other side of lower Manhattan, staring across the water at New Jersey. Which I immediately knew wasn't right.
The famed “three hallmarks” of the Buddhist teachings consist of the Buddha’s, and Buddhist traditions’, descriptions of the realities of suffering, impermanence, and selflessness. It can be helpful to remember that all three of these terms are...
A few days ago, a Brooklyn teenager died after he was shot eleven times by NYPD officers. His name was Kimani Gray, and according to his sister, he was a good kid who kept his head down.
Imagine the stress faced by students at the nation's top universities, particularly one as competitive and proud as Harvard. Now imagine the pressure on the people who have to deal with them -- faculty, administrators, other Harvard employees.
Metta is a wonderful practice and a wonderful mind-state. The act of blessing or making an aspiration for someone is powerful. But I'd like to make a point that I haven't yet written about: metta is not a practice about making things nice.
My friend Richie and I met when we were juniors in college. A shy, thoughtful African American man, he was known for carrying his camera everywhere, listening as others poured out their stories to him, and running through the snow wearing gym...
Ahoy! Welcome to the first Contemplation Station on our journey: Detroit! Every week, we’ll visit a new place in the world, because, hey, a station has to be somewhere.
Right now, Detroit is going through tough times. I’ve never been here myself,...
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Since the decline of Occupy Wall Street as a major social and media phenomenon, the notion of wealth inequality has sort of dropped off my personal political and moral radar...
It's clear, from the point of view of a dharma practitioner, that technology has been of great benefit to those who live a distance from practice centers. I've taken dozens of IDP's study-at-home classes and listened to hours of talks by teachers I...
Buddhism, at its base, is genderless. The Buddha taught to both men and women, and he taught them the same techniques to achieve liberation from suffering. But since that time Buddhists have built a lot of male-dominated structures on that space.
Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. ~ The Dalai Lama
Daily Sit invites you to practice meditation with a live online community. Inspired by "Sitting Project," a daily meditation piece, Kim Brown and I thought it would be supportive to...
Last week I went to see Fran Lebowitz in conversation with Harvard psychology Professor Steven Pinker as part of the Rubin Museum's Brainwave Series. Fran is an icon of the New York curmudgeon variety, and she's known for her observations. In...
(Photo: Mari Griffin)
I did not recognize you as fear
Deep vibrating abyssI did not recognize you as fearI did not recognize you as fearBecause your power has the births of many stars in its belly
A friend of mine is a teacher. As an exercise, he asked the people seated before him in class to write down some words that described them. When the papers were handed back, not one of them contained the word “student.”
"I'M HEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!" Startled by the booming voice and clenching our bathrobes, we looked up to see Dennis Rodman march in with his hands in the air.
Where am I not walking the walk?
Dr. Jeffrey Rubin posed this question in the first class of Spiritual Awakening NOT Spiritual Bypassing on Monday night, and inspired me to ask myself.
Sometimes I focus on my successes; when my intention to...
Right or Wise Speech is one of the factors on the Buddha's Eightfold Path, and it includes a warning against harsh speech*. A new study shows the effect of harsh speech in reader comments.
