By accepting our emotions and not reacting, says Lama Justin von Bujdoss, we can learn to effectively serve others. My work in caregiving, both in hospice and at Rikers Island’s jails, has brought me face-to-face with pain, sorrow, loss, terror, fear, frustration, and anxiety. Since shutting down is not an option—I have found that I cannot serve without feeling—I am [...]
Adapting the Dharma
Each Friday, we share three topical longreads in our Weekend Reader newsletter. This week, Lama Justin von Bujdoss explores the idea of adapting the dharma to the needs of the present moment. Sign up here to receive the Weekend Reader in your inbox. If everything is impermanent, and change is the constant, why do we hesitate to adapt the dharma to the needs of the present [...]
Lineage Is About More Than Preservation
In this commentary from the Summer 2018 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly, Justin von Bujdoss reflects on changing the way we think about lineage. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed. In our climate of unending gun violence, extreme rhetoric in domestic and international politics, and environmental crisis, I find myself needing to lean not only on my practice [...]
Pain, Practice, and Pure View
When the teacher F's up, what's a Buddhist to do? In light of recent, unsettling news stories, Justin von Bujdoss offers a clarification of the pure view of the tantric Buddhist path. It may seem obvious to some, but it bears repeating: Buddhist teachers, like us, are human. Like us, they fuck up. This human fallibility of the teacher can be considered manifest in the recent [...]
Ask the Teachers: Should I meditate if I can’t stop thinking about porn?
Question: I’m addicted to pornography; I have been for a long time. I have good days in my practice, but often I end up bringing pornography into my meditation, and once it begins, it’s hard not to stay with it. Is meditation even a good idea for me? Or am I someone who should spend less time in his own head, away from these kinds of thoughts? Bodhin Kjolhede: Indeed, we [...]
A Buddhist Chaplain at Rikers Island
On April 26, 2017, weeks after New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans to close Rikers Island, the prison's Buddhist chaplain Justin Von Bujdoss was profiled on the front page of The Wall Street Journal. Prior to starting his position in September of last year, Von Bujdoss wrote for Lion's Roar about what Rikers Island is — and what it needs. This September, I will start [...]
