Category: Practice
The Golden Chain: Guide to a Life of Love
The Golden Chain is a traditional recitation within American Shin Buddhist communities. For Camille Hamilton Pating, it comes as naturally—and joyfully—as saying the Name of Amida Buddha.
Take Charge of Your Practice
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche's advice for time management: organize your schedule, let go of distractions, and make a clear aspiration to practice.
In Defense of Ritual
Richard Payne takes a serious look at the role of ritual in Buddhist practice and the reasons why Westerners might feel resistant to it.
Feeling Our Way to Awakening
The emotions we wish we didn’t have, that we’d like to just get over? Those feelings, say Jody Hojin Kimmel, are not obstacles on the path — they are the path.
The Real Practice of Mindfulness
As mindfulness becomes an increasingly popular concept, it is often mistaken for just “being in the moment.” Andrew Olendzki examines the Abhidharma teachings to uncover what mindfulness practice really is and how it works.
It Comes Down to Character
We often look at Buddhist practice as a way of cultivating particular qualities; Thanissaro Bhikkhu reminds us, however, that the Buddha also spoke of qualities we must have to take up the practice in the first place.
To Enter the Vajrayana Start at the Beginning
It is the kindness of the buddhas to provide us with a complete path, and the preliminary practices are part of that path.
Shamatha–Vipashyana: Our Original Nature
Gaylon Ferguson explains that through both shamatha and vipashyana meditation we bring our mind back to its original state.
How to Read Buddhist Teachings
No matter where you begin, says Judy Lief, or whether you are an independent practitioner or affiliated with a particular tradition, all you have to do is to dive in.
Everyday Life Is the Practice
Geshe Tenzin Wangyal tells us how to turn our daily challenges into meditation practice. Illustrations of the six Tibetan Realms of Rebirth by Steve Heynen.
What Is Dream Yoga and How Do You Do It?
If you indulge your fantasies, lucid dreaming becomes super-samsara. If you go deeper, lucid dreaming can develop into dream yoga—spiritual practice.
Buddhist Visualization Practice Is Pure, Clear, and Vibrant
Visualization practice sometimes involves traditional symbolism that Westerners have trouble relating to, says Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche. He shows us how we can make the most of this powerful method for transforming perception.
Just Wholeheartedly Sit
A translation of Dogen’s Bendowa fascicle, from Kazuaki Tanahashi’s Treasury of the True Dharma Eye.
Make the Most of Your Pilgrimage
Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche explains how to get the most out of your spiritual journey to India, from generating proper motivation to the most effective practices for accumulating merit and wisdom while visiting Buddhism’s holy sites.
Being in Real Time
The late Dainin Katagiri Roshi explores Dogen’s concept of Being-Time and how to work with it our daily lives.
Rest in the Sky of Natural Mind
The tantric path of Buddhism is complex and arduous, but its surprising culmination is the practice of spaciousness, ease, and simplicity.
Discovering the True Nature of Mind
Geshe Tenzin Wangyal teaches us a Dzogchen meditation that goes from contemplating our worst enemy to the discovery that mind is empty, clear and blissful.