Even in the daily insanity of parenthood, your Buddhist practice can thrive. Sumi Loundon Kim explains: it's all about how you see it. Most of us with Buddhist backgrounds assume that the dharma will help us become better parents. Mindfulness, for example, restrains reactivity in favor of a more well-considered response. But perhaps we’ve got it backwards: parenting [...]
How Will I Explain Extremist Buddhism to My Children?
Khin Mai Aung once worried her children would pick up dogmatic views from her husband’s Catholic faith. Now, she struggles to explain to them the terrible violence in her country of birth — incited by members of her own faith. I’m Buddhist. My husband is Catholic. Our religious differences created some tension early in our marriage — mostly because I fretted about our [...]
Discovering the dharma in “Frog and Toad”
Through the 70’s, Arnold Lobel wrote and illustrated four extraordinary collections of children’s stories about Frog—practical, a problem-solver, eternally patient—and his best friendshowing Toad, who is ruled by his reactions to his surroundings: he wants this, he fears that. Frog never comments on Toad’s behavior, he takes gentle action. More often than not, a story ends not [...]
No Big Deal: On Metta & Forgiveness
When I first learned about loving-kindness or Metta practice, I thought it was a little weird. Not that it’s weird to make a practice of inclining our hearts and minds towards goodwill, but a little weird to do it by silently repeating the same phrases over and over again as the meditation practice itself; May I be happy… May I be safe… May I be well. The idea of offering [...]
The Biggest Party Ever
As a child, Howard Axelrod dreamed of a festival that everyone in the world attended. Now he realizes that it's been happening all along. Through third and fourth grade, I had a recurring fantasy, though I thought of it as a project. Night after night, surrounded by my retinue of stuffed animals, I’d lie awake elaborating and refining. No dreams of tree houses for me, no [...]
How do I explain my Buddhist practice to my family?
Every time I see my family, I end up hurt and frustrated because no matter what I say they believe Buddhism is a weird fringe religion. How can I make them understand? You can’t make anyone believe anything— not if they don’t want to—but you can change how you respond to your family’s criticisms. Most schools of Buddhism avoid proselytizing, and traditionally Buddhists are [...]
Awakening My Heart: On Retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh
Andrea Miller attends a transformational six-day retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh. The War Memorial Gym is a sea of eight hundred prone people. When I finally find an empty patch of floor, I unfurl my yoga mat. Then I lie down on top of it, covering myself with the itchy yellow blanket I carted here from my dorm room. This is the evening of the first full day of Thich Nhat [...]
How to Raise an Emotionally Resilient Child
Emotional health, says parent coach Krissy Pozatek, means accepting the full range of human emotions, both the painful and the positive. For parents who wish their children nothing but happiness, that can be difficult. When my daughter was four, she said to me, “Mommy, I'm worried.” She had tension in her voice and fear in her eyes. Concerned, I asked, “Sweetie, what are [...]
Is Nothing Something?
Illustration by Jessica McClure. Thich Nhat Hanh answers children’s questions. Children have a special place in the Plum Village tradition of Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. There are special practices, vows, and programs designed especially for children and teens, and Thich Nhat Hanh often fashions the first part of his dharma talks with them in mind. He regularly takes [...]
Xmas Spirit
Sad, angry, lonely—Daniel Asa Rose and his sons are reeling from the recent family breakup. But in a closed bowling alley on Christmas Eve, they open their hearts and find seasonal cheer. Their mother wanted to have a few hours to herself, so I left the little rat’s nest I was subletting in New York and drove three hours to take our two boys to a bowling alley, one of the few [...]
