Practice
Power & The Practitioner
Buddhist practice, in the popular mind, is conceived of as gentle, even somewhat passive — yet it prizes and cultivates potent powers derived from both oneself and other sources. Join leading Buddhist teachers as they look closely at the powers that we cultivate in dharma practice, from the absolutely practical to the mysterious (and even the supernatural). <br /> <br />
Cultivating the 5 Powers
Author, medical doctor, and Plum Village monastic Sister Dang Nghiem (a.k.a. “Sister D.”) talks about how her teacher Thich Nhat Hanh taught the “five strengths” — faith, diligence, mindfulness, concentration, and insight — and how we can harness them to drive and deepen our dharma practice.
Understanding Self Power & Other Power
Mark Unno explains how giving ourselves over to other power, an idea central to Asian Buddhist thought, can lead us to awakening.
The Dharma of the Second Bell
Rev. Joan Amaral recalls “Operation Bring John Home” — an effort to break through the bureaucracy that kept a married couple apart — while living one’s values and remaining unbowed.
Practicing the Perfections
Dharma teachers from across traditions on realizing Buddhism’s paramitas, or perfections: generosity, ethics, forbearance, vigor, meditation, and wisdom.<br /> <br />
Generosity Comes First
In any presentation of the paramitas, dana, or generosity, always comes first — Nikki Mirghafori explains why.
Lean Into Suffering Through Khanti
Sister Clear Grace Dayananda left the monastery, packed her life into a little van, and went out into the world to meet people where they are and where they are suffering. Here, she considers khanti, the paramita of forbearance, and the work it requires.
The Freedom of Emptiness
At the heart of the path of the paramitas is prajna, or wisdom—but a wisdom that goes beyond our conventional ideas about it. Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche unpacks how that kind of wisdom works.
“For the benefit of all beings, please keep making your best effort, with no gaining idea. Meet each moment as-it-is and accept with gratitude whatever it has to offer.”
—Zenkei Blanche Hartman
More on PRACTICE
Dancing the Dakini Chöd Cham of Machig Labdrön
Dancer and journalist Karen Greenspan takes us on her journey to learn the traditional dance of the Tibetan Buddhist Chöd practice of Machig Labdrön. The practice empowers female practitioners in Bhutan, sustains the tradition in both the Himalayas and the West, and showcases how we can preserve cultural and spiritual traditions.
How Buddhist Mandala Offering Practice Works – And Why
Mandala offering, an integral part of the foundation, or ngöndro, practices of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, allows us to harness positive karmic forces through relentless generosity. Loppon Yudron Wangmo explains how these practices help create favorable conditions for spiritual growth and removes obstacles on the path to awakening.
Watch: Mingyur Rinpoche teaches on Mindfulness of the Body
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche teaches us what it means to bring our mind and body into the present moment. Also included is a helpful reflection on the subject from Edwin Kelley.
How Benefiting Others is Also Self-Benefit
The Buddhist concept of "no-self" and the pressure to be selfless can become a daunting task, as it felt for Buddhist practitioner Ching Pan. In this piece, she explores how we can care for others selflessly while also caring for ourselves.
To Rescue a World
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi on the shift that transformed his loving-kindness practice, allowing him to truly extend it toward all beings — even those he might have once considered neutral or even hostile.
How Buddhist Abhidharma Practice Mitigates Aversion, Craving, and Suffering
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche shares Abhidharma practices that can guide you toward inner freedom, compassion, and wisdom in his new manual, Stainless Prajna: Stages of Meditation on the Treasury of Abhidharma. Also included is a short breathing/meditation practice.
Awareness, from the Moment You Wake Up
We’re often encouraged to bring meditation “off the cushion” and into our everyday lives—Sayadaw U Tejaniya shows us what that really looks like.
Concentrating on the Work at Hand
In this excerpt from The Gift of Work (originally published as Skillful Means), the prolific Nyingma teacher Tarthang Tulku shares a plain-language exercise for concentration, as developed over his five decades interacting with Americans from various business backgrounds.
Awakening Through Dream
What role do dreams have in our path to liberation? Charlie Morley on the history and benefits of the fourth of Naropa’s Dharmas, milam, or yoga of the dream state. Includes a short dream yoga practice for you to try tonight.
Resting In Luminosity
Lama Karma Wall on how the practice of clear light (osel) yoga can help us recognize the luminous nature of our mind free from dualistic conceptualization.