The Pali word dukkha is most commonly translated to English as "suffering." Dukkha presents in an array of emotions — from happiness to despair. While counterintuitive, it is a central concept in the Buddha's teachings. In these passages, adapted from longer teachings on Lion's Roar, 10 teachers explain what suffering is, how we feel it, and why it isn't a condemnation — it's a [...]
Fear and Fearlessness: What the Buddhists Teach
So much of our suffering—as individuals and as a society—is caused by fear. In fact, according to Buddhism, fear is at the very root of ego and samsara. Four outstanding Buddhist teachers discuss the vital practice of working with our fears. Starting on the Path of Fear and Fearlessness By Judith Lief It helps to explore how we can work with fear from the point of view of [...]
Know Your Enemy
We call people who harm us enemies, but is that who they really are? When we see the person behind the label, say Buddhist teachers Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman, everyone benefits. Crushing the Competition Sharon Salzberg Competition today is tantamount to a blood sport—and not just on the playing field or in the ring. The psychoanalytic theorist Karen Horney [...]
Circling the Sacred Mountain
Haunted by the famed mountain since he was a young monk, Robert Thurman leads a small group of pilgrims overland to Tibet's Mt. Kailash, the sacred axis mundi of central Asian cosmology. In this excerpt from Circling the Sacred Mountain: A Spiritual Adventure Through the Himalayas, the party arrives at its destination. The narrator is Tad Wise. We break camp by eight-thirty in [...]
“Attachment is unhealthy” — Robert Thurman on intimacy, Part 2
In this follow-up post, Thurman, in discussion with Sachico Ohanks, talks more about relationships: about attachments, "deep violations" in intimate relationships, and whether non-Buddhists can benefit from Buddhist ideas without embracing Buddhist spirituality. How do we define healthy attachment, when we are trying to practice healthy non-attachment? Well, basically [...]
Robert Thurman on the benefits and disappointments of intimacy
Here Robert Thurman, in discussion with Sachico Ohanks, addresses the benefits and disappointments of intimacy. What are the benefits of intimacy? The benefits of intimacy have to do with finding yourself in others and expanding your self-centeredness, so that you think of the perspective of others almost reflexively. You don’t feel your own identity is [...]
A Cry for Freedom
Robert Thurman's commentary on the Tibetan plight and the horrifying phenomenon of Tibetans self-immolating in protest of Chinese rule. Oh my heart! Oh, my life! How can this happen! What can I do? I’m overwhelmed as I watch a video of the brave and passionate Tibetan Buddhist nun Palden Choetso standing in the street, burning herself as a human torch. I want to respond, to [...]
The Cool Heroes of Zuccotti Park
Determined, insightful, nonviolent—Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman tells the protesters of Occupy Wall Street that they’re just the kind of people the country needs. Everyone here is an example of something I’ve been wishing for for many years. You are what I call “cool heroes.” By cool I mean nonviolent. Cool heroes are people who are forceful, intelligent, just, and [...]
Occupy Wall Street: Robert Thurman’s “Cool Heroes”; Public “Being ‘Present’ meditations planned
Filmmaker Velcrow Ripper is documenting the Wall Street protests, and he is now sharing video he shot Thursday of Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman. In the video, below, Thurman is aided by activists via a chant of sorts, the message of which turns on a dime from impassioned to snarky to moving. A sample: "No one should be protesting against some nasty bankers if they really [...]
Robert Thurman interviewed by Danny Fisher
Danny Fisher interviews Robert Thurman about the political resignation of the Dalai Lama, and the relationship between Buddhist scholastics and practice. Undoubtedly known to Lion's Roar readers as a mighty figure in terms of the transmission of Buddhist culture and ideas to the United States, Bob Thurman is also Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at [...]
