Archives: LR Articles
Suffering’s Not the Only Story
In the midst of great personal pain and confusion, says Sylvia Boorstein, we can be alive to the momentary gaps where our minds change course.
How American Women Are Changing Buddhism
The role of American Buddhist women is unprecedented and may change Buddhism forever.
The Wise Woman Who Talked Back to God
The Ancient Buddhist tale of the Seven Wise Sisters has Zen Teacher Bonnie Myotai Treace thinking about the koan of gender.
Death Don’t Have No Mercy
Mariana Caplan's moving memoir of her mother's death, a rare account of death looked straight in the face and a powerful lesson in the pain of holding on.
Creative Conflict
Barry Boyce reminisces on a September 11th tribute played at a Jazz club by Toshiko Akiyoshi.
Jon Kabat-Zinn: The Man Who Prescribes the Medicine of the Moment
Barry Boyce profiles Jon Kabat-Zinn, whose mindfulness stress reduction program has brought the benefits of meditation practice to thousands of people.
Searching for the Heart of Compassion
Marc Ian Barasch searches our society for compassion in action, compassionate people, and ways to find the compassion inside himself.
Ultimately You’re Healthy, Relatively You Die
Will Meditation make you healthy? Barbara Rhodes, Jan Chozen Bays, David Shlim, and Mitchell Levy, discuss the Buddhist view of health.
Niutou’s Song of Mind: A Commentary by Sheng Yen
Teachings at a meditation retreat by the renowned Chan Master Sheng Yen on stanzas one through five of the Chinese classic Song of Mind.
The Future of Ice
Novelist Gretel Ehrlich spent a year travelling the world's coldest places, meditating on the experience of winter and exploring the polar regions.
Daughter Time
The time of childhood is going to go fast. I'm doing what I can to slow it down. There's still time for me to learn some of what they see and know and feel.
Koan Practice: The Great Way is Not Difficult If You Just Don’t Pick and Choose
Home to care for his dying mother, Zen teacher John Tarrant discovers what it means for himself and those around him to give up picking and choosing.
Elaine Pagels’ Search for Christ the Mystic
Who was Christ, really? Barry Boyce profiles Elaine Pagels, the leading authority on Christianity's suppressed gospels.
Trikaya: The Mahayana Buddhist Trinity
The “three bodies of the Buddha” may seem like a remote construct, says Reginald Ray, but the trikaya is present in every moment of our experience.
The Wisdom of the Body and the Search for the Self
From the impermanent to the heroic to the sacred—The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche on how the view of body changes and evolves in the three vehicles of Buddhism.
Intimate Distances
Speculations on the nature of self, other, boundary and embodiment by the great cognitive scientist and Buddhist practitioner Francisco J. Varela, written after undergoing a liver transplant. The scene is viewed from the side. The patient is lying on his half-raised hospital bed. Tubes, sutures and drains cover his body from nose to abdomen. On…
When the Candle is Blown Out: On The Death of Katagiri Roshi
Natalie Goldberg offers a remembrance of her teacher and a cri de coeur over all that is left incomplete and unanswered by his death.
Not Every Gauntlet Requires Picking Up
Not every challenge – nor every thought – needs to be acted on, says Sylvia Boorstein. We could be happier just letting go.
Searching for the Truth that Is Far Below the Search
Below the level of thoughts, concepts and even emotions are the subtle ways that life is felt directly in the body. David Rome explains how to Focus.