Question: I am relatively new to Buddhism (I have been practicing for about a year) and I’ve been struggling with the balance between study and practice. How should I go about setting up a plan of study for myself? How do I decide what I should study when there is so much material out there, and are there things that I absolutely must study before going on to more advanced [...]
What to Do When Energy Runs Wild
Advanced meditation practices can cause energy imbalances that lead to serious physical and emotional problems. Ken McLeod, a veteran of two three-year retreats, explains what to do if this happens to you. A few years ago, a psychologist came to see me with concerns after attending a one-day retreat. The practice instruction she had received was to put attention on just the [...]
Practicing Financial Awareness
Laura Jomon Martin suggests ways to identify our habitual patterns and attitudes around money and to foster a more generous outlook. There is neither virtue in what is meager; nor evil in what is bountiful. Regardless of wealth or poverty, when the mind of greed arises people lose their beautiful minds. The buddha mind is the mind that knows what is sufficient. —Eihei [...]
Feature Discussion — Our Way: Women and Buddhism
What’s gender got to do with Buddhism? How are women—and men—working with the challenges of sexism in Buddhist institutions? What opportunities present themselves when women pursue the path of dharma outside of traditional institutions and organizations? These are just some of the important questions discussed in the current issue of Buddhadharma, featuring (see below, L-R) [...]
Nirvana Now
Nirvana, says Ajahn Sumedho, is not some far off goal that can only be attained through years of effort. It is a state of being you can realize at any moment once you let go of grasping. A difficulty with the word nibbana is that its meaning is beyond the power of words to describe. It is, essentially, undefinable. Another difficulty is that many Buddhists see nibbana [...]
New films featuring Dalai Lama and Tibet
Three notable films offering fresh looks at Tibetan Buddhist culture have recently been released. One garnering a lot of attention is Dalai Lama Renaissance, narrated by Harrison Ford. The film has won twelve awards and been chosen as an official selection at more than forty international film festivals. Read on for more, and for related links. The film tells the story of [...]
Commentary: Heads Up! We’re Making Changes
By Tynette Deveaux It’s been almost seven years since we published the first issue of Buddhadharma with its beautiful image of Kwan Yin on the cover. I still recall vividly a meeting that Melvin McLeod, the editor-in-chief, and I had with Robert Thurman several months prior to the magazine’s launch. We explained to Thurman that this would be a journal for practitioners, and [...]
Forum: You Mean I’m Going to Die Too?
Jan Chozen Bays, Ajahn Amaro, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, and Frank Ostaseski explore how to face aging and death with an open and fearless mind. I grew up in a small farming community. Each year animals I had seen grazing in their pastures were slaughtered and sent off to the meat packers. One of my neighbors kept a tin cup hanging in his barn that he used to drink blood [...]
“Where Is God When Stick Hit Floor?”
Rabbi Rami Shapiro’s humorous account of his trying, but ultimately helpful, encounters with Sasaki Roshi. “Where is God when stick hit floor?” Joshu Sasaki Roshi, my Zen master, asked over and over. Unfortunately, I wasn’t listening. This was the second day of a sesshin, a Zen meditation retreat, and my first opportunity to experience sanzen, a one-on-one meeting with [...]
Imagine You’re Enlightened
Ken McLeod explains how the visualization practices of Tibetan Buddhism really work and how modern practitioners can use them in a meaningful way. In 1974 I was translating for Dezhung Rinpoche, a wonderfully warm and kind scholar and master who had settled in Seattle in the early sixties, soon after the Tibetan diaspora. He had come out of retirement in response to the [...]
