In this beautiful new PSA addressing implicit bias, we're reminded about love's power to cross any and all perceived boundaries. The PSA is just one part of a new year-long campaign about implicit bias. "Most of us aren’t even conscious of our prejudice," the campaign's website explains. "That’s why it’s called implicit bias." Visit lovehasnolabels.com to learn more, get [...]
In a new, eight-part video course from Sounds True, Pema Chödrön teaches how to transform and achieve liberation from your habits, addictions, and behaviors—guiding you step-by-step through the tools that can lead to inner freedom. "The Freedom to Choose Something Different" puts timeless Buddhist teachings about working with emotional attachment and habitual responses into [...]
Many of us begin meditation practice with some level of excitement and expectation. But like all things, those too shall pass. Rod Meade Sperry, in his Editorial for our "DIY Dharma" issue, offers some encouragement for keeping on. Perhaps you meditate occasionally, in the park or on the bus. Maybe you have a dedicated spot in your home and a regular time to meditate. Or you [...]
It would seem that Jon Stewart now has a plan for what comes next after he steps down from The Daily Show. The operative word here, of course, is seem. Stewart opened last night's show with the quip, "Many of you know I recently announced I was gonna be leaving the show to join a monastery." He also mentioned that he's learned more about what "moment of Zen" means. (Though, [...]
As the Washington Post reports today, physicist Stephen Hawking has identified humanity's aggression as one of the greatest threats to humanity itself. Quoth Hawking: “The human failing I would most like to correct is aggression. It may have had survival advantage in caveman days, to get more food, territory or partner with whom to reproduce, but now it threatens to destroy us [...]
Thich Nhat Hanh weighing in on the Oscars? In a way, yes. The Zen teacher's Facebook page posted congratulations to Birdman director Alejandro González Iñárritu for his Academy Award Best Picture win, and expressed gratitude also for thanking Thich Nhat Hanh in the film's credits, noting that "Alejandro follows Thay's teachings, and says of his [own] mindfulness practice, 'It's [...]
As someone who spent far too much time hiding in my college’s library, devouring the stories, plays, and letters of Henry Miller, I am flabbergasted now to learn of the depth of Miller’s appreciation of and preoccupation with Buddhism. (Perhaps, given my age, I was focused more then with the more prurient aspects of his work. As Erica Jong once put it, using somewhat faint [...]
Each issue in "Bodhi Chatter," a department from The Moment, the completely redesigned front section of the Shambhala Sun, we'll be sharing with you a featured Dharma-Burger. Which raises the question: What’s a Dharma-Burger? Well, it’s any example of Buddhist thought or imagery being infused into advertising or marketing—and, therefore, pop/mass-culture. As you might imagine, [...]
Death can come at any time, so the Buddha warned us to get ready now. Knowing that helped Buddhist teacher Allan Lokos after a terrible plane crash. Rod Meade Sperry has his story. Did meditation save Allan Lokos’s life? Well, there was this one time. The short of it: an indigestion-type feeling hit one evening, was noted but not much worried about. Next thing Lokos knew, [...]
Unflinching honesty. Insightful observation. Outside-the-box thinking. Today’s great comedians may not know much about Buddhism but they practice some of its most important principles. Rod Meade Sperry takes a look at today’s comics of merit, including Louis C.K., Sarah Silverman, Mike DeStefano, Garry Shandling, Tig Notaro, and more. What is it about comedians and Buddhism? [...]
