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 Sunlight of Awareness
Shine the warm light of awareness on your thoughts and feelings, says Thich Nhat Hanh. Observe the changes that take place in your mind under the light of awareness. Even your breathing has changed and become “not-two” (I don’t want to say “one”) with your observing self. This is true of all your thoughts, feelings and habits, which, together with their effects, are suddenly [...]
You Can’t Fail at Meditation
Dan Harris gets the inside story on mindfulness and compassion from Buddhist teachers Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, and Mark Epstein. It was a pretty sweet opportunity, really. The poobahs from Lion's Roar came to me and said: pick your favorite Buddhist teachers, and we’ll set up a public speaking event for you in New York City. Also, they promised to promote my new [...]
Over and Over Again
What happens when negative thought patterns are taken to the extreme? Matt Bieber on his struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder and how Buddhist practice helps. According to Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, to be enlightened is to be free of obsessions. Given that I have obsessive-compulsive disorder, I usually feel very far from that ideal. Thanks to practice, though, I have [...]
Bodhi Trees
In nature we see Buddhist truths unfold, while in Buddhism we find ways to heal the natural world. Jessica Morey on Minding the Earth, Mending the World. Minding the Earth, Mending the World: Zen and the Art of Planetary Crisis By Susan Murphy Counterpoint 2014; 320 pp., $16.95 (paper) How can we wrap our minds around something so vast as the destruction of the [...]
Yoga from the Inside Out
For Christmas a few years ago, my partner, Teja, gave me a round yoga mat about six feet in diameter. When I spread it out and began to practice—by the twinkle of the Christmas tree lights—I was amazed at the way my asanas transformed. My gestures became rounder, less angular. I took up more space. I spiraled and spun. To my astonishment, I realized that my thirty years of yoga [...]
Books in Brief
Waking Up A Guide to Spirituality without Religion By Sam Harris Simon & Schuster 2014; 256 pp., $26 (cloth) The author of The End of Faith, Sam Harris is a scathing critic of religion and anything that he deems superstition. Yet he considers himself to be spiritual and has spent many years practicing meditation. As he explains it, human beings experience altered [...]
Get off the wheel of Habit with the new Shambhala Sun
The November issue of the Shambhala Sun is on newsstands now. So what’s inside? Get off the wheel of Habit. Getting free from habitual patterns of thinking, relating, and acting— it’s the whole point of Buddhist meditation. A special section, featuring Sylvia Boorstein on five styles of habitual reaction and how to free yourself from yours; Thich Nhat Hanh on making happiness [...]