Mark Unno reflects on compassion as immersion into the sufferings of samsara, like a raindrop falling into the ocean. I remember as a small child the experience of my first pet. Our family had traveled to Japan because my father’s study had taken us there. We rented an old, traditional wooden house in Tokyo where year round the wind whistled easily past windows and doors [...]
Transforming the Heart of Suffering
In order to have compassion for others, we have to have compassion for ourselves. In particular, to care about other people who are fearful, angry, jealous, overpowered by addictions of all kinds, arrogant, proud, miserly, selfish, mean—you name it—to have compassion and to care for these people, means not to run from the pain of finding these things in ourselves. In fact, [...]
Buddhism’s New Pioneers
It’s possible that most Western Buddhists are “unaffiliated.” That is, they practice alone or in small informal groups not listed in the phone book or on the web. There is therefore no record, no official trace, of their activity. They practice off the books. If you’re unaffiliated, maybe you became interested in Buddhism through reading, or in school, or maybe you met a [...]
Ask the Teachers: How can I accept the suffering of others?
Question: In dharma talks, the causes of suffering are often discussed, as is the cessation of suffering. I have been a Buddhist for about eighteen years, and while I feel I have an understanding and acceptance of the causes of personal suffering, I find it difficult to understand the causes of suffering when we suffer for others. Such suffering is not due to ignorance or [...]
Visualizing Love
A meditation practice from Sangye Khadro on visualizing Maitreya in order to cultivate loving-kindness. It takes time and effort to develop immeasurable loving-kindness. At times we have enthusiasm for it, but at other times we feel indifferent or just lazy and think, why bother? Sometimes we may wonder why we should cultivate love for people we don’t know or who have [...]
Take Care of Yourself Too
Sharon Salzberg reflects on the selflessness of everyday caregivers, and encouraging a balance of compassion and equanimity. I have been involved for several years in a program run by the Garrison Institute, bringing the tools of meditation and yoga to domestic violence shelter workers, and then to shelter supervisors and directors. These people are very much on the front [...]
The Time Has Come
The traditional “eight heavy rules” institutionalize women’s second-class status in Buddhist monasteries ― women must submit to male leadership, senior nuns must take their place behind junior monks ― and in most Buddhist lineages women are denied full ordination. Former nuns Thanissara, Jitindriya, and Elizabeth Day look at new controversies that are focusing attention on this [...]
That Was Then, This Is Now
The eight heavy rules are the result of historical and social circumstances, explains Buddhist scholar Janet Gyatso—and times have changed. Equal status is critical, not only for those directly affected but also for the future of Buddhism in the West. It is crucial to develop an intentional stance on the famous eight heavy rules, the provisions that institute patriarchy in [...]
“I Will Do It”
Llundup Damcho reports on the Seventeeth Karmapa’s vow to reinstate full ordination for women in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The Seventeenth Gyalwang Karmapa stunned an international audience in Bodhgaya last winter by making an unprecedented declaration of commitment to ordaining women as bhikshunis in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. when there would be bhikshuni [...]
Forum: Sex, Lies, and Buddhism
Exploring the spirit, subtleties, and relevance of Buddhist ethics: a panel discussion with Norman Fischer, Lama Palden Drolma, and Andrew Olendzki. From the time of the Buddha, the path has been understood as a threefold training in ethical conduct, meditation, and wisdom—sila, samadhi, and prajna—leading to an unconditional inner freedom. At a time when every corner of the [...]
