What better place to work with your mind? Here is a practice I have been working with for more than a decade. I recite, usually silently, these two sentences: May I meet this moment fully. May I meet it as a friend. These blessing phrases cultivate and sustain a mind of peace and goodwill. For me, they represent the promise of practice. “May I meet this moment fully” [...]
The Dharma of Distraction
It goes a lot deeper than how many times a day you check your phone. According to Buddhist teacher Judy Lief, distraction is the very foundation of ego, the way we protect ourselves against both the pain of life and the open space of awakened mind. You could even say that letting go of all distraction is the path to enlightenment. Distractions are everywhere, all the [...]
Three Questions for Coming Back to Now
While hiking, Buddhist practitioner Leslie Davis suddenly found her mind miles ahead of her body. She offers three questions you can ask yourself to reel your running mind back to the present moment. On a recent personal retreat, I hiked into Horn Canyon in the east end of Ojai, California. Due to the severe drought, it had been years since water had flowed alongside the [...]
The Science of the Mind and the Science of the Brain
While scientific methods are useful, says His Holiness the Dalai Lama, mind should also be studied through rigorous observation of our own subjective experience. The joy of meeting someone you love, the sadness of losing a close friend, the richness of a vivid dream, the serenity of a walk through a garden on a spring day, the total absorption of a deep meditative [...]
The Haunted Dominion of Mind
The haunted dominion of the mind, says Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, is none other than the dominion of self-clinging. If our goal is to free ourselves from the fear and endless insecurities that haunt us, then we must cut through self-clinging by cultivating the view of emptiness. In old Tibet, practitioners went to charnel grounds, springs, haunted houses, haunted trees, and [...]
One-Shot Mind
In his seminal teaching on the four foundations of mindfulness, the late Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche explained how to practice mindfulness of mind. Mindfulness of mind means being with one's mind. When you sit and meditate, you are there: you are being with your body, with your sense of life or survival, with your sense of effort, and at the same time, you are being with your [...]
Developing the Mind of Great Capacity
A teaching on practices to generate bodhichitta by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. From one point of view, personal liberation without freeing others is selfish and unfair, because all sentient beings also have the natural right and desire to be free of suffering. Therefore, it is important for practitioners to engage in the practice of the stages of the path of the highest [...]
Buddhist researchers seek to reveal link between heart, mind
Researchers at Hong Kong’s Center of Buddhist Studies have published findings that point to a connection between the heart and the mind. Buddhism has long asserted a connection between the heart and the mind. The Sanskrit word citta and the Japanese word kokoro each translate to English as both “heart” and “mind.” Now, Buddhist researchers are trying to identify that [...]
How Do I Put My Mind to Rest?
Like the student in this famous koan, we constantly face the challenge of emotional turmoil and restless mind. You don't have to cut off your arm like he did, says Karen Maezen Miller, but you do have to cut off your conflicting emotions at their root. “Would you like to learn to meditate now?” I asked this of a student as we neared the end of the meditation class. I was [...]
Leading neuroscientists and Buddhists agree: “Consciousness is everywhere”
New theories in neuroscience suggest consciousness is an intrinsic property of everything, just like gravity. That development opens a world of opportunity for collaboration between Buddhists and neuroscientists. "The heart of consciousness," says neuroscientist Christof Koch, "is that it feels like something. How is it that a piece of matter, like my brain, can feel [...]
