When I was first introduced to mindfulness meditation, the teacher said that there was “nowhere to go, nothing to do, and nothing to change or fix.” As I sat on my cushion that day, trying hard to be mindful, that instruction struck me as a giant contradiction. Wasn’t...

Mindfulness has begun to permeate Western culture, and, as expected in a capitalist society, it has become trivialized and commodified. You can now find hordes of “mindfulness products,” ranging from mindfulness coloring books to an “in-depth planner that will help...

“Travel far enough, you meet yourself,” the author David Mitchell writes in his novel Cloud Atlas. I’m inclined to agree. Discovering lands and cultures hitherto unknown to me draws out aspects of myself I never knew existed. The same could be said of my Buddhist...

‘To keep observing the nature of our thoughts generates a mind emptied of Dukkha, and so, is the very best knowledge there is. Through it we gain familiarity with the realization or awareness of emptiness.’ Buddhadasa Bhikkhu

‘The most essential meaning of the word ‘study’ is of the unceasing, dedicated observation and investigation of whatever arises in the mind, be it pleasant or unpleasant. Only one familiar with the observation of mind can really understand Dhamma.’ Buddhadasa...

In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, we recognize compassion as both the highest spiritual ideal and the highest expression of our humanity. The Tibetan word for compassion, nyingje, which literally means the “king of heart,” captures the priority we accord compassion....