Gina Sharpe, Lila Kate Wheeler, and Larry Yang, core teachers of the Teacher Training program at Woodacre, California's Spirit Rock Mediation Center, share about this year's participants. In July 2017, the eighth Spirit Rock Teacher Training program began with more participants from diverse, multicultural communities than ever before. This four-year training will create fully [...]
About Larry Yang
Ask the Teachers: How do I know whether to avoid or accept something that causes me distress?
If someone or something causes me distress, how do I judge whether to avoid the situation or to accept it as a practice opportunity, along the lines of an Atisha’s assistant? Dungse Jampal Norbu: The story of Atisha's assistant is a reminder that we can further our practice by accepting difficult situations in our lives. When Atisha was asked why he tolerated his insulting [...]
Commentary: This Nation Needs Our Awakening Together
East Bay Meditation Center's core teacher Larry Yang on what the nation really needs following the US election. Have you noticed? We are not an enlightened society. Perhaps aspects of that are getting more and more clear for many of us in the period leading up to and including the 2016 elections. More and more, our dharma practice is necessarily not just a personal [...]
Learn the “BASICS” of Insight Meditation
The term “insight meditation” comes from the Pali word Vipassana. It is the ability to see clearly and deeply into what is unfolding in our lives. Insight practice reveals what has created our present conditions and allows us to more fully live in the present moment. This is so valuable for our ability to make conscious choices to better our lives. It is why the Buddha said [...]
Democracy is Good For Sanghas
Many dharma communities are led by a teacher—usually the founder—who typically occupies a dominant role in organizational governance. If there are several teachers, a teachers’ council may form that holds as much or more power than the organization’s board of directors. But the depth of a dharma teacher’s teaching and spiritual ministering, while at the heart of any meditation [...]
No Small Effort
"Coming back to the issue of diversity," say dharma teachers Gina Sharpe and Larry Yang, "is no different from bringing one’s awareness back to the breath or any object of awareness; it is a practice, and sometimes a long and difficult one." From the Winter 2012 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly. On September 19, Spirit Rock Meditation Center held a [...]