‘Don't make decisions on the strength of desires. Desires can puff us up into thinking we are something we're not.’ Ajahn Chah

Recently, we noticed a stuffy smell in our dharma hall. This led me to check the crawlspace, where I found the air conditioner drip-pan filled with water. This moisture had created the musty smell. While an engineer fixed the AC, I scooped the water into buckets and...

My grandmother passed away in Vietnam in the late 1990s. I was only able to visit her once while she was alive. During that one visit, my mom made it a point to pre-pay for my grandmother’s plot, along with related end-of-life expenses. She knew it might be difficult...

For our next issue of Bodhi Leaves, we want to see your home altar! If you identify as Asian American or as part of the Asian diaspora, send a photo of yourself, your home altar, and a short description of what you display on your altar and why to...

With a running start of long, powerful strides, he launched head-first at a slab of concrete jutting up from the ground. He threw his arms out in front of him, his body stretching into the air, looking like a lion leaping at prey. As his palms struck down on the slab,...

I invite you to practice a little thought experiment: imagine yourself in any social context, such as in your workplace, in a restaurant, or walking down the street. Imagine you overhear someone say something like, “Well, that’s just their karma. They must’ve done...

One hundred and seventy years ago, in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Chinese immigrants established the first Buddhist temple in the United States. Though Americans of Asian descent are the oldest and largest Buddhist group in the U.S., our voices have been strangely...

Growing up in America as a first-generation immigrant was a challenge. I never quite felt like I fully belonged. I was “too American” to be fully Thai and too “Thai” to be fully American. My parents are devout Theravada Buddhists, and they practice Buddhist rituals as...

‘Buddha isn’t one sided. The nature of mind is basically empty, neither pure nor impure. Free of both practise and realisation.’ Bodhidharma

The Summer Day Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? this grasshopper, I mean— the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of...