In the November 2018 issue of Lion’s Roar magazine, 14 Buddhist teachers answer the most frequently asked questions about challenges on the spiritual path. Here, Mushim Patricia Ikeda talks about dealing with physical pain in meditation. Question: As I get older, I feel more pain when I sit. It’s in my knees, in my back, and even in my jaw, which ends up clenched from [...]
6 Buddhist Leaders Reflect on the US Midterms and What Comes Next
In the US midterm elections on Tuesday, the Democrats took control of the House and seven governorships while the Republicans strengthened their hold on the Senate. Six Buddhist teachers interpret the outcomes through the lens of Buddhist wisdom. Upaya and the Middle Way Rev. angel Kyodo williams After two impossibly long years of what seemed like daily offenses to the [...]
I Vow Not to Burn Out
Mushim Ikeda says it's not enough to help others. You have to take care of yourself too. At the end of January, one of my close spiritual friends died. A queer Black man, a Sufi imam “scholartivist” (scholar–artist–activist) and professor of ministry students, Baba Ibrahim Farajajé died of a massive heart attack. He was sixty-three, and I’m guessing he had been carrying [...]
How to Practice Metta for a Troubled Time
Mushim Patricia Ikeda teaches us how to generate loving-kindness and good will as an antidote to hatred and fear. Illustrations by Tomi Um. Metta meditation is not a magical spell you can cast on the population of the U.S. in order to produce a state of utopian bliss. It is not a cure-all for oppression and the unequal distribution of power and privilege. Metta meditation [...]
It’s All Workable
Mushim Patricia Ikeda, one of three teachers leading this year’s Lion’s Roar Retreat, “Facing Life’s Challenges,” on finding your way through tiny successes, step-by-step. After my husband had suffered through a deep depression for over a year, he announced that he wanted a divorce and moved out. This was in 2008, when the U.S. economy was in recession, so I was [...]
Let’s Talk About Burnout
Each Friday, we share three topical longreads in our Weekend Reader newsletter. This week, Buddhist teacher Mushim Patricia Ikeda shares her tips to avoid burnout. Sign up here to receive the Weekend Reader in your inbox. There’s avoidable burnout, and there’s non-avoidable burnout. If you’re going through non-avoidable burnout — perhaps you’re a low-income single parent, [...]
A Story for Buddhists in the ICE-raid Era
Mushim Patricia Ikeda shares a small piece of Buddhist history that she’s never forgotten, and that she hopes, in this age of ICE raids and the debate about DACA, we’ll always remember too. Here’s a true story that, I think, all U.S. Buddhists should know. Back in 2000, I was guest editor of the “Buddhists of Asian Descent in the USA” issue of the Buddhist Peace [...]
In Light of DACA Controversy, a Simple Way for Buddhist Communities to Be of Service
Buddhist teacher Mushim Patricia Ikeda has what she thinks is a great new way for Buddhists to be of service -- by getting their various communities to offer a simple item that helps them assert their rights and feel less vulnerable. She explains: I live and teach in California, which is home to more than 25% of the 800,000 young DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) [...]
A Meditation for Working with Post-Charlottesville Stress
There's a growing sense of anxiety and fear in our society, and in our hearts. But we're not helpless. Mushim Patricia Ikeda gives instruction in Metta meditation, which can help us foster feelings of loving-kindness, or good will. [...]
Stand Against Suffering: A Call to Action by Buddhist Teachers
Thirteen prominent teachers explain why Buddhists need to be be politically engaged at this crucial time in the country’s history, in this statement published in Lion’s Roar magazine and co-signed by more than 140 Buddhist leaders. As long as a society protects the vulnerable among them, they can be expected to prosper and not decline. —The Buddha, in the Mahaparinirvana [...]
