When I first learned about Buddhist practice, I immediately saw its parallels with parenting. The two practices share the same basic tenets for living an ethical life. We are asked to transform suffering. We practice non-violence, loving speech, and deep listening. We...

As a Black woman born and raised in these United States, I have spent much of my life not just angry, but rageful. It’s the kind of rage that finds me gritting my teeth until my jaw aches even as everything around me seems perfectly safe and serene.  There’s a...

‘The aim of spiritual practice is to become the friend of all beings, concerned about them and ready and able to help them.’ Dalai Lama

It is spring in California—the seed packets and gardening tools are already out in our supermarkets and I notice how my heart picks up when I see the display. I look at the seed packets with photographs of impossibly large tomatoes and I feel inspired about planting...

Not long after my father died suddenly from a cardiovascular procedure, I was sitting in a local café admiring the beautiful foam heart the barista had created on the surface of my latte. After taking a few sips, I noticed an ache in my arm but carried on enjoying the...

In Becoming Gandhi: My Experiment Living the Mahatma’s 6 Moral Truths in Immoral Times (Sounds True), author Perry Garfinkel sets out to live like Gandhi for three years. Garfinkel, a freelance journalist, worldwide traveler, and self-proclaimed “bon vivant,” attempts...

The first time I tried walking meditation, it was with a Soto Zen group, and I fell on my face—literally. My leg had fallen asleep during zazen, and I didn’t even make it one step before I hit the ground. Not great. And when I finally got my feet under me again, the...

Mindfulness means to hold in mind. To be aware of something. To be present. According to the Buddhist analysis of mind, we’re attentive, or mindful, all the time, or at least whenever we’re conscious. It takes mindfulness to drive a car, eat lunch, talk to someone,...

“Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us.” -Rilke Last year as the lockdown wore on, I began to have recurring, dark thoughts that seemingly arose out of nowhere. They disturbed me to the point that I repeatedly...

‘One develops compassion for the beings in Samsara, avoids defilement and rejoices in virtue.’ Acharya Shantideva