Buddhist practitioners have understood for centuries that the illusions we encounter in dreams are the same ones we encounter in waking life. Andrew Holecek shows us how to harness the Vajrayana techniques of dream yoga in order to wake up to reality. According to legend, when Siddhartha was glowing right after his enlightenment, people asked him if he was a god, a [...]
Why Forms are Fundamental to Buddhist Practice
Embrace the ritual forms of Buddhist practice, says Buddhadharma deputy editor Koun Franz — you can't escape them anyway. A friend and I were discussing a retreat she’d recently attended at a large monastery when she sighed and said, “I just love monks and nuns.” I asked why. I don’t know what answer I expected, but it wasn’t the one I got: “They’re the only ones,” she [...]
How We Work with Koans and How They Work on Us
Joan Sutherland, Judy Roitman, and Bodhin Kjolhede examine the practice of koan introspection, how different traditions approach it, and how the way we engage with koans is changing. Introduction by Ross Bolleter. The use of the koan as a formal teaching tool entered the West through the efforts of pioneering teachers such as Soyen Shaku, who taught Mr. and Mrs. Alexander [...]
Dharma Rain Plants Zen in Portland
For almost fifty years, from 1936 until 1983, a twenty-six-acre plot of land in Portland, Oregon, was used as a gravel pit and construction landfill. For thirty more years, as a “brownfill” property called Siskiyou Square and capped with clay and soil, it remained vacant. Developers were wary. The likeliest candidate seemed a big-box store like Walmart or Target, because only a [...]
Inside the Summer 2015 Buddhadharma magazine
Click here to watch the full version of this issue's Dialogue, in which Josh Korda and Koshin Paley Ellison discuss spiritual bypassing. Features Waking Up from the Dream of a Lifetime Buddhist practitioners have long understood that the illusions we encounter in dreams are the same ones we encounter in waking life. Andrew Holecek shows us how the Vajrayana techniques of [...]
Josh Korda and Koshin Paley Ellison discuss spiritual bypassing
Josh Korda and Koshin Paley Ellison explore the problem of spiritual bypassing—using spiritual practice to escape feeling difficult or painful emotions. From the summer 2015 issue of Buddhadharma. Highlights from the conversation: Josh: What’s your experience with spiritual bypass? Koshin: When I began doing clinical work, I found myself walking down hallways thinking that [...]
