When Diana Reynolds Roome brought home a thangka of Manjushri from Nepal she wondered, "How could I bring this great bodhisattva into my humdrum existence?" On my last trip to Nepal, I purchased a thangka of the great bodhisattva Manjushri in a tiny shop on the eastern edge of Kathmandu. I carried the sacred artwork through a series of airports on a two-day journey home to [...]
Philip Glass and the Exquisite Moment
A 1997 interview with composer and performer Philip Glass, conducted by Stephen Brooks. I arranged the microphone and tape recorder on the wooden table in Philip’s kitchen in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and then I sat back to enjoy an hour alone with one of our era’s premier musical artists, and a generous portion of his pasta and sauce. But I did little else: I provided him a [...]
Pioneering Buddhist chef Seng Luangrath wants you to know “Lao food is good food”
Shortly after Lao-American chef Seng Luangrath opened a Thai restaurant, she found herself asking, “Why am I not serving Lao food?” Now, she’s on a mission to popularize the cuisine of her native country. As a child, Seng Luangrath fled her home country of Laos during the Vietnam War. Her family lived in a Thai refugee camp for two years before moving to California, where [...]
Yoga for When You Don’t Want to Do Yoga
It can be hard to do things you know are good for you. In this 2001 instruction from the Lion’s Roar archive, Cyndi Lee offers advice and a sequence of yoga poses for pushing through your own resistance. What do the following things have in common? Meditation practice, doing taxes, getting up in the morning, going to bed, making the bed, exercising, admitting I'm wrong, [...]
Yes, We Can Have Hope
In this commentary from the Fall 2018 issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly, Roshi Joan Halifax reflects on the idea of "wise hope" and why we should open ourselves to it. A good part of my life has been spent relating to situations that might be deemed hopeless—as an anti-war activist, a civil rights worker, a caregiver of dying people. I have also [...]
Jezebel reports additional allegations against Noah Levine
A feature article on Jezebel published Tuesday reports that multiple women have accused Buddhist teacher Noah Levine of sexual misconduct. Levine is the founder of Against the Stream Meditation Society and Refuge Recovery and the author of several best-selling books. As previously reported, Against the Stream Meditation Society (ATS) released a statement in late March [...]
The Wisdom of Anger
If you know how to use it, says Melvin McLeod, the energy of anger becomes fierce and compassionate wisdom. Because even the buddhas get angry about suffering and injustice. Is anger an empowering and appropriate response to suffering and injustice, or does it only cause more conflict? Is it skillful or unskillful? Does it help or hurt? With so many bad things happening [...]
Pointing Out Ordinary Mind
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche presents the essential teachings of Mahamudra and its three main approaches to practice, each offering effective methods for directly pointing out mind’s true nature. The Mahamudra teachings are profound instructions that lead to the realization of the true nature of mind. Mahamudra is a Sanskrit word that describes the fundamental nature of [...]
Loving-kindness for Litterbugs
Armed with a trash picker and a garbage bag, Lina Blanchet finds an unusual opportunity to discover the sacred nature of life, in all of its guises. The winds of an impending winter arrive on an early Sunday morning in late November, the day of our sangha’s bi-annual roadside cleanup. The Buddhist Sangha of Bucks County has been responsible for cleaning the same stretch of [...]
I’m Not O.K., You’re Not O.K.—and That’s O.K
When we read the news, we might find ourselves overwhelmed with “non-OK-ness,” but Sylvia Boorstein says there are ways we can work with that feeling. I heard on the BBC World News that a supermarket chain in Great Britain now provides chaplains in their stores, available to meet with customers when they are shopping. In Leeds, the position is shared by a Buddhist nun, a [...]
