We live in a world that’s increasingly fragmented, lonely, and individualistic. In the face of this, people in various corners across the globe have formed small communities based on principles of mindfulness and ecological viability. Author and former Buddhist monk...
Recently I suffered, grimacing, through several days of a bad toothache, soldiering through the pain in hope that it would spontaneously fade. Finally, I gave in and went to see my dentist. While he took a set of X-rays, I winced even more in the expectation that I...
Melvin McLeod: When did you start practicing meditation? Jon Kabat-Zinn: My first experience of formal practice—or even learning about it—happened one day in 1965. I was a molecular biology student in the laboratory of Salvador Luria, a soon to be Nobel Laureate, and...
Since the beginning of human history in cultures throughout the world, motherhood has been placed on a pedestal as the ultimate form of purest love. The mother is stereotyped as a nurturing caregiver, as a refuge for loved ones, as selfless and self-sacrificing. We...
As I write this morning, children in the next yard are playing. I hear them making the sounds kids make when happy. They are not worried about the climate. Yet they will be. It’s inevitable. In a recent survey, young people in countries around the world said they...
‘Dukkha is very profound; as we explore it through the Buddha's Four Noble Truths, we understand that being unawakened is itself dukkha. Dukkha, Cause, and Nirodha (Nirvana).’ Everyday Buddhism
‘At the heart of the Buddha’s message is the notion of the Middle Way — a path that avoids the extremes of indulgence in sensual pleasures on one side and severe asceticism on the other.’ Everyday Buddhism
‘There are ‘four virtues’ of perpetual happiness and purity. This is why it is said that the one who comes to meditate truly and correctly, must sit facing the innermost sanctuary of truth.’ Zen Master Hakuin
Myanmar was hit earlier today by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake — felt also in Thailand, China, India, and Vietnam. A quake of this size is of course never good, but as Amnesty International’s Myanmar expert Joe Freeman says, this “could not come at a worse time” for the...
‘Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is freed from incoming defilements. The well-instructed disciple of the noble ones discerns that as it actually is present.’ Bassui Tokushō