‘Each moment of mindful awareness, each breath, each act of kindness is an expression of this awakened nature. This is why practice is described not as the path to awakening but as the activity of awakening.’ Everyday Buddhism

Dr. Larry Ward, a senior teacher in Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village tradition Buddhist teacher and co-founder of The Lotus Institute with his wife, Dr. Peggy Rowe-Ward, passed away on Tuesday, August 19, as announced in a post from the Lotus Institute team: This...

‘The Buddha's skill in teaching (upaya-kaushalya) allowed him to present the Dhamma in ways appropriate to his audience, sometimes emphasising distinctions, sometimes interconnectedness, always aiming at liberation.’ Everyday Buddhism

When I was a child, I found a secret place in the bayberry bushes. In the summers my family floated free from the known world—the world that was measured by carpools and sidewalks—and went to the seashore. It was lonely for me there; I felt alone in my separate self,...

‘Here, bhikkhus, some misguided men learn the Dhamma — discourses, stanzas, expositions, verses, exclamations, sayings, and answers to questions — but having learned the Dhamma, they do not examine the meaning of those teachings with wisdom.’ Alagaddupama Sutta

‘The Buddha made an important distinction between ordinary acts of giving and true dāna, which transcends the ordinary understanding of giving. In true dāna, there is no giver, no gift, and no recipient. This is the union of giving and anattā (not-self).’ Everyday...

‘In the teachings of the Buddha, dāna (giving) holds a place of great significance. At its most basic level, giving is an ethical practice that cultivates generosity, selflessness, and compassion.’ Everyday Buddhism

‘In his profound teachings, the Buddha illuminated the possibility of liberation from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth — what we know as samsara.’ Everyday Buddhism

‘The Buddha’s teachings do not call for repression but for illumination. Awareness, when steady and unentangled, remains untouched by the arising and passing of thought. The key is not to eliminate thinking but to cease identifying with it.’ Everyday Buddhism

Before we can generate compassion and love, it is important to have a clear understanding of what we understand compassion and love to be. In simple terms, compassion and love can be defined as positive thoughts and feelings that give rise to such essential things in...