Empathic Understanding
Stephen Batchelor, Buddhism Without Beliefs: I find myself moved by the plight of those I do not know and probably never will: the hungry child, the abandoned dog, the streams of refugees. Or my world is suddenly transfigured by the smile of an old woman on a park bench. And when I finally run into […]
Life is Worthwhile
Jordan Peterson addresses “Reality and the Sacred,” [The image of Atlas carrying the world] is a representation that says, that that’s the proper way to live. That the way that you live properly—so that you can withstand the nature of your own being—is to pick up a load that’s heavy enough so if you carry […]
Spend Time with Your Own Mind
Poet Gary Snyder writes in Just One Breath, Spending time with your own mind is humbling and broadening. One finds that there’s no one in charge, and is reminded that no thought lasts for long. On a related note, Pema Chodron wrote in Cutting Ties: The Fruits of Solitude: We can’t kid ourselves: if we […]
Finding Our Own Path
Lama Surya Das writes in The Big Questions: A Buddhist Response to Life’s Most Challenging Mysteries: At this point in my life, what is the meaning of life seems to me a slightly misleading question. The meaning of life must be discovered through living. Each of us must find our own meaning. Although we can […]
Treat People as Individuals
Todd Rose writes in The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness: It is not that the average is never useful. Averages have their place. If you’re comparing two different groups of people, like comparing the performance of Chilean pilots with French pilots—as opposed to comparing two individuals from each […]
A Constant Transformation
Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche writes in Letting Go of Spiritual Experience: In the overall context of the spiritual journey, it is important to remember that self-transformation is a continuous process, not a onetime event. One cannot say, “I used to be a nonspiritual person, but now I have been transformed into a spiritual person. My old […]
Practice Awareness Every Moment of the Day
Dennis Genpo Merzel writes in The Path of the Human Being: Zen Teachings on the Bodhisattva Way: Zen Buddhism focuses on the Buddha’s teachings about direct realization. Buddha used his wisdom to come up with skillful means to help us go about liberating ourselves. Zazen is the most direct path, but because we all have […]
A Sense of Urgency
Pema Chodron in When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times, The teachings of Buddhism are directed at people who don’t have a lot of time to waste. That includes all of us, whether we’re aware of it or not. From the point of view of the teachings, thinking that we have ample time […]
Radical Acceptance
Tara Brach author of Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha in the interview Becoming an Inner Peace Activist with Tricycle Magazine, Summer 2003: Radical Acceptance is a different way of framing the Buddhist teachings of mindfulness and compassion. It is the capacity to clearly recognize our inner experience and embrace […]
Prisoners of the Past
Jawaharlal Nehru writes in The Discovery of India, There is a stillness and everlastingness about the past; it changes not and has a touch of eternity, like a painted picture or a statue in bronze or marble. Unaffected by the storms and upheavals of the present, it maintains its dignity and repose and tempts the […]