Articles

The key to wise thought is to sense the energy state behind the thought. When we rest in the heart, then we can use thought wisely, we can plan and imagine in benevolent ways.

Setting a long-term intention is like setting the compass of our heart. No matter how rough the storms, how difficult the terrain, even if we have to backtrack around obstacles, our direction is clear.

Whatever we regularly think colors our experience—all day, every day. Once we start to watch these thoughts, we discover that 90% of them are reruns.

Through meditation we gradually open the boundaries of consciousness to compassion for all beings, as if they were part of our family. We learn that even when our compassion is lost through fear and trauma, it can be reawakened.

We can plan, we can care for, tend and respond. But we cannot control. Instead we take a breath, and open to what is unfolding, where we are. This is a profound shift, from holding on, to letting go. 

Compassion is most real in the particulars, in our response to the immediacy of this moment. Every conscious act contributes to the healing of the whole.

Feelings are ever-present. They are a mysterious and rich dimension of our human life. But without mindfulness of them we can react automatically, habitually clinging to the pleasant feelings, avoiding the unpleasant ones, and remaining unaware of what is neutral.

What if you could love yourself fully, including your imperfections? What if you could love others in the same way? You might fear that by loving your anger or laziness, your addictions or your anxiety, that you will never change for the better, that you will become...

Very often what nourishes our spirit most is what brings us face to face with our greatest limitations and difficulties. Every life has periods and situations that call on our spirit. Yet in these very difficulties, we can learn the true strength of our practice.

Hold yourself as a mother holds her beloved child. —Buddha We are so quick to judge one another. And just as we are hard on others we are even harder on ourselves. With mindfulness, our natural compassion grows. We can see that we are all carrying our own burden of...

When love meets pain it becomes compassion. When love meets happiness, it becomes joy. Joy is an expression of the awakened heart, a quality of enlightenment. When we live in the present, joy often arises for no reason.

Because experience happens so quickly, habitual responses can come out of our mouth before we know it. It helps to train ourselves to pause before our response. This is called the sacred pause. Before we speak, we can examine our motivation. Is our motivation one of compassion and concern? Or do we want to be right? Are we open to learn, to see?

With delusion we live our lives on automatic pilot. We walk down the street and return home without registering where we are and what is happening. Mindfulness training wakes us up from the trance of delusion. Mindfulness shifts us out of fantasy into seeing clearly.

Dear ones, The year ends and we begin a new circuit around our own beautiful sun star, twirling amidst the galaxies. Take a breath, quiet your heart and listen deeply.There is so much coming and going, and yet…feel how underneath it all is a vast silenceand a...

Listening deeply, your body will connect you back to the body of the Earth. As you sense that you are not separate from the planet, you know that to take care of your body you also must take care of the streams and the rivers, and the web of life within which you exist.

As a nation and a globe, we are going through divisive and painful times. Now is the season to stand up for what matters. To stand against hate. To stand for respect. To stand for protection of the vulnerable. It is a misunderstanding to think that meditation and...

75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice by Corinne Shutack

If we want to act wisely in the world, the first step is to learn to quiet the mind. If our actions are born from grasping or fear, they will perpetuate the problems. Only when our own minds and hearts are peaceful can we expect peace to come through the actions we...

Much of human suffering is caused by greed, hatred, fear and ignorance. When we let go of greed, hatred, fear and ignorance, and hold the world with compassion and tenderness, love, generosity and understanding follow, and this brings happiness. This is the way to be...

Wisdom is not knowing but being. The Christian mystics instructed seekers to enter the Cloud of Unknowing with a trusting heart. The wise heart is not one that understands everything—it is the heart that can tolerate the truth of not knowing. Wisdom comes alive in the...

As children, many of us were taught courage in the form of the warrior or the explorer, bravely facing danger. In the Buddhist understanding, however, great courage is not demonstrated by aggression or ambition. Aggression and ambition are more often expressions of...

Guilt and anger and fear are part of the problem. If you want to save the world, save it because you love it! —Gary SnyderIt is easy to feel overwhelmed by global problems. Climate change. Conflicts across the Middle East. Racism. Homelessness. Economic injustice....

One of the deepest and most demanding aspects of Buddhist psychology is the experience of non-self. Ajahn Chah said, “You have to consider and contemplate this slowly, you can’t just think about this or your head will explode.” It turns out that it is not just our...

  After I got the call that Ram Dass had died yesterday, I closed my eyes.He is still here.I could feel the vast field of love that was shining from Ram Dass when Trudy and I taught with him just a couple of weeks ago. And I always will.On the final day of this...

  If we cannot be happy in spite of our difficulties, what good is our spiritual practice? —Maha GhosanandaGratitude is a gracious acknowledgment of all that sustains us, a bow to our blessings, great and small. Buddhist monks begin each day with chants of...

As your spacious heart opens, you can rediscover the vast perspective you’d almost forgotten. A spacious heart reveals the spacious mind. This is the mind that, after you’ve stubbed your toe, hopped around, and howled, finally laughs. The mind that, when you are upset...

  Mistakenly, some people think that Buddhism condemns all desire. But there is no getting rid of desire. Instead, Buddhist psychology leads us from desire to abundance.The Indian sage Nisargadatta, one of my teachers, challenged his students, saying, “The...

  Who is your enemy? Mind is your enemy. No one can harm you more than a mind untrained. Who is your friend? Mind is your friend. Nothing can help you more that a trained mind, not even your loving parents. —Buddha What do we see when we look at our mind?...