John Tarrant demystifies Zen koan practice. Yes, it’s paradoxical, poetic, and totally personal. And so is life. The koan: The coin lost in the river is found in the river. A koan is a little healing story, a conversation, an image, a fragment of a song. It’s something to keep you company, whatever you are doing. There’s a tradition of koan study to transform your heart and [...]
The Heart Is Tender
The essential teaching of the buddhadharma is that suffering is universal and not foreign to any life. To respond to suffering with kindness and compassion is fundamental to Buddhist mind/heart training. Often our reaction to suffering is to recoil and armor the heart. We believe that suffering signals that something has gone terribly wrong or someone is to blame for this [...]
The Path to Peace Is Free of Charge
When we begin our spiritual journey, we may be motivated by all those wonderful images of Gautama Buddha: a quiet figure, sitting serenely, coolly immune to the challenges in life. It’s a nice image, but it doesn’t accurately present the path, at least in my experience. While we may be tempted to believe that meditation will help us get rid of sadness, grief, loneliness, [...]
Freedom is Possible
My favorite teachings are freedom stories. I once was caught, but now am free / I once was lost, but now am found. In all traditions, people have been gathering together in sacred circles to share stories like these for a very, very long time. In the Buddha’s teachings, freedom is prominently located in the third noble truth—nibbana, the cessation of suffering. In other [...]
How to Have a (More) Buddhist Wedding
It's your special day, so why not bring some dharma to the proceedings? James Ishmael Ford shares tips on how to do it—while not weirding anyone out. What does it mean to have a Buddhist wedding? It’s hard to say. As far as we know, the Buddha didn’t take a position on marriage. The most we have from him are a few comments about some of the difficulties of marriage, and [...]
I’m interested in going to a Buddhist center in my city for the first time. Any advice?
It sounds like you’re a little nervous and unsure what to expect. That’s okay—Buddhists talk about the value of “not-knowing,” after all. But we do have some tips. First: do some googling to see what your options are. And you’ll find a helpful directory of Buddhist centers right in the back of Lion's Roar magazine or Buddhadharma. Visit centers’ websites and social media to [...]
A Buddhist Cop’s Approach to Justice
Cheri Maples, a student of Thich Nhat Hanh and former police officer, addresses the U.S.'s crisis in policing and how a Buddhist outlook could help foster more positive relations between citizens and police. A cop meets Thich Nhat Hanh I became serious about developing a consistent mindfulness practice when I attended my first retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh (known [...]
Put Your Compassion into Action
Philosopher Peter Singer and philanthropist Julia Wise talk with Buddhist monk and author Matthieu Ricard about why altruism leads to innumerable benefits—not only for ourselves and our loved ones, but for all beings. Peter Singer: Matthieu, how did you come to be known as the “happiest man in the world”? What is it like to walk around with that burden? [...]
How Sharon Salzberg Found Real Happiness
Facing her suffering head-on has made Sharon Salzberg one of today’s most relatable Buddhist teachers. Lindsay Kyte talks to Salzberg about her difficult life’s journey, establishing loving-kindness as a key practice in American Buddhism, and how we can all find real happiness. Sharon Salzberg knows suffering. At age nine, she was dressed in her Halloween ballerina [...]
Do Buddhists raise their children to be Buddhists?
In traditional Buddhist societies, Buddhism is integrated into the entire culture—its ceremonies, art, symbols, values, and structure, so it is natural for parents to raise their children as Buddhists. It’s different for so-called convert Buddhists in the West. Generally, they were attracted to Buddhism as an individual spiritual path, not as a culture. Now in its third [...]