Archives: LR Articles
Stay with the Soft Spot of Bodhichitta
Pema Chödrön on how to awaken bodhichitta—enlightened heart and mind—the essence of all Buddhist practice.
The Great Love
As well as its famed doctrines of emptiness and nonattachment, the heart of Buddhism is the love and compassion we feel toward all beings.
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.
How to Study the Dharma
Understanding Buddhism, says Reginald Ray, takes place in stages of ever-deepening and more direct experience.
Forum: Formless Meditation
A panel discussion with Ajahn Sumedho, Reverend Patricia Dai-En Bennage, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and Gaylon Ferguson on shikantaza – formless meditation.
White Plums and Lizard Tails: The story of Maezumi Roshi and his American Lineage
The story of a great Zen teacher—Taizan Maezumi Roshi—and his dharma heirs. Finding innovative ways to express their late teacher’s inspiration, the White Plum sangha is one of the most vital in Western Buddhism.
The Future of Zen
Interviews with experts Sojun Mel Weitsman, Steve Hagen, Jiko Linda Cutts, & John Tarrant on how Zen is evolving in the West.
Listen, Think, Practice and Realize Your Life As Peace
This teaching by Maezumi Roshi on practicing the dharma was first given in Los Angeles in 1994.
Just Don’t Do It
Sylvia Boorstein on the struggle of adjusting to new circumstances. Dealing with that stress? Maybe it's time to just take a break.
The Paradox of Happiness
Real happiness is what we all want, but none of our strategies for finding it seem to work. Maybe it's the search for happiness that makes us unhappy. John Tarrant has some thoughts on why the Buddha smiles.
The Practice and Philosophy of the Buddhist Path
Once you understand, through study, what the Buddha is saying about his own awakening, you are already within the fiery process of the path.
Jonathan Schell on the Choice We Face
The world faces a critical choice: whether to use military power or nonviolent political means to resolve our affairs. Jonathan Schell on this choice.
That Problematic “Self”
In the fourth and final post in his series on the Buddhist concept of "self," Dr. Reginald Ray talks about how we maintain our "self" and therefore suffer.
Change of Heart
"My heart riffs through a repertory of responses before I can think," says Sylvia Boorstein. But she doesn't mind—she's glad to have a responsive heart.
There Is No “I” Who Is Sitting
Master Sheng-yen teaches the technique of silent illumination.
A Courageous Activity
It may look as if we're doing nothing on the cushion, but in fact we're cultivating peace. From that point of view, the practice of meditation is a very courageous activity.
Deconstructing the “Self”
In the third in a four-part series by Dr. Reginald Ray on the "self" in Buddhism, he explores how we create the storyline of "self" and how to deconstruct it.