Archives: LR Articles
Surprises on the Way
Is there a way we can extend and deepen these moments of awakened mind that coexist with our confusion? Or even just notice them when they occur? That’s the point of Buddhist meditation, which is never about doing or creating anything. We simply rest in everything as it is. It sounds so easy, yet nothing is more profound or mysterious.
We Think, Therefore We Are
Review of The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently . . . and Why, by Richard E. Nisbett.
Higher Powers
Review of Faith in the Halls of Power by D. Michael Lindsay and From Pews to Polling Places: Faith and Politics in the American Religious Mosaic edited by J. Matthew Wilson.
This Very Mind, Empty and Luminous
We can see awakening in the world around us, but we can also turn the telescope inward and look directly at our mind.
Melody vs. Meditation
There are two sides to singer-songwriter Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls: the “just sitting” meditator and the crazed composer.
Rethinking Ritual
Review of Zen Ritual: Studies of Zen, Buddhist Theory in Practice, edited by Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright.
Profile: Birken Forest Monastery
David Kirk profiles the Birken Forest Monastery in British Columbia.
Phrases and Spaces
Zen practitioners don’t "work on" koans. Koans work on them. Norman Fischer offers a poet’s take on the phrases and spaces of Zen practice, including his favorite: “Who is sick?”
Mindfulness of Mind
Dispassionately observing what goes on in our mind is one of Buddhism’s central practices, a technique being used to work with mental health.
The Mind-Body Story
Review of The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine by Anne Harrington
Jack’s Blues
Review of Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of On the Road (They're Not What You Think) by John Leland
The Art of Losing
Ruth L. Ozeki's touching memoir is also a profound meditation on love, stories, and the difference between losing and letting go.
The Only Choice is Kindness
“Life is so difficult, how can we be anything but kind”—it was these words that inspired Sylvia Boorstein to follow the Buddhist path.
Prince of the Ascetics
Charles Johnson imagines in this short story the very moment Siddhartha became the Buddha.
The More Things Change
Review of After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings Are Shaping the Future of American Religion by Robert Wuthnow.
More Than Just This Body
Yee offers his thoughts on the power of yoga to bring us back to what’s truly important in our lives and to transform both body and mind.