When Siddhartha Gautama gave his first teaching after enlightenment, it was to five friends in the deer park at Sarnath, not far from Varanasi in the Ganges Valley. Wanting to transmit to them the essence of his breakthrough, he crystallized his insights into what...

‘It's hard [training the mind] in that it doesn't conform to our desires.’ Ajahn Chah

‘Our mortal nature is Buddha nature. Beyond this nature there’s no Buddha. Buddha is our nature. There’s no Buddha besides this nature.’ Bodhidharma

‘In regard to training the mind, sometimes we may say it's easy. It's easy to say, but it's hard to do, very hard.’ Ajahn Chah

‘Just know yourself, this is your witness.’ Ajahn Chah

Mother's Day! What a special occasion for the most sacred relationship we experience in our lives. One day is surely not enough to celebrate the power and boundless devotion of mothers, but at least it's something! And we must make the best of it! I do want to mention...

Put both hands on your heart, pause, and feel their warmth. You can also put your hand anyplace on your body that feels soothing and comforting, like your belly or face. Breathe deeply in and out. Speak these words to yourself, out loud or silently, in a warm and...

“Go placidly amid the noise and the haste and remember what peace there may be in silence.” With this sentence the German-American writer Max Ehrmann began “Desiderata.” My mother appreciated this poem so much that she hung a framed copy across from the toilet in our...

‘Just listening to the Dharma rain.’ Zen Graffiti

Feeding our demons rather than fighting them contradicts the conventional approach of fighting against whatever assails us. But it turns out to be a remarkably effective path to inner integration. Demons (maras in Sanskrit) are not bloodthirsty ghouls waiting for us...