Howard Cutler and the Dalai Lama’s Art of Happiness

The Shambhala Sun talks to psychiatrist Howard Cutler about The Art of Happiness, the book based on his series of conversations with the Dalai Lama.

Time for Boomers to Ponder Old Age

So perhaps this is an apt time to discover dignity in old age, lest my generation become for a puling exit from the stage of life.

Is It Only Rock and Roll?

"I am constantly asked, why pay any attention to any of it? Isn't this middle brow culture somehow not really spiritual? What a small God, that."

Ordinary Initiations

"I've come to think that experiences of initiation are very common, very ordinary, very subtle. They happen to us all as a natural part of living."

Open to Understanding

The longing to be understood is very strong but it is in direct conflict with ego’s desire to be seen as independent and admirable. Karen Kissel Wegela on giving the ego a break and opening up instead.

Why We Travel: A Love Affair with the World

Like falling in love, travel throws us into a state of delight, uncertainty and self-discovery. Like lovers, travelers both give and receive.

Good Medicine For This World

Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön and novelist Alice Walker on how tonglen meditation practice opens our heart, expands our vision, and plants the seeds of love in our lives.

Constant Consciousness

"That which is not present in deep dreamless sleep is not real." Ken Wilber discusses Emptiness.

The Power of the Tao Te Ching

Perhaps the most valuable message the Tao Te Ching offers is that when something occurs, it contains within it the seeds of the negative and the positive.

I Vow

When we take the precepts of a bodhisattva, with every one we say, "I Vow." What does this mean?

There Are No Words

Roshi Bernard Glassman discusses his practice of bereavement following the death of his wife and dharma partner, Sensei Sandra Jishu Holmes.

Inheritance

"When my father said, ‘You descend from kings,’ he was reminding us that though we did not have the money of the powerful, we were powerful nonetheless."

Ain’t She Still a Woman?

Increasingly, patriarchy is offered as the solution to the crisis black men face. Black women face a culture where everyone wants us to stay in our place.

The Llama and the Shmuck

I confide my feelings to Bubo as if he were a therapist; he doesn't comment because he's a Freudian llama.

It’s Been a Long Time Coming

Asked by one reporter what a bunch of musicians were really going to be able to do for Tibet, both Thom Yorke and Sean Lennon went on the counterattack.

Thom Yorke’s View from the Stage

Judy Bond Interviews Radiohead's Thom Yorke.

A Memorable Ass-chew

In my virginal, pre-ass-chew state, I was thick-headedly oblivious to the danger, my mind racing past that minor detail.

Rebel’s Dilemma

From childhood on I have had to struggle to break from the impositions of images that don’t represent me accurately or well.

He Likes to Watch the Trees

According to Barry Boyce, if you start to look at trees more, you start to notice things. Their lordly, meditative pace can slow you down and stop you.

So Who Are You?

"You are not objects out there, you are not feelings, you are not thoughts-lessly aware of all those, so you are not those. Who or what are you?"