Sylvia Boorstein on how to give our children — and ourselves — hope in a worrying time. Question: I grew up under the shadow of nuclear war. Today, my children fear for the future of the world because of climate change and Donald Trump — and nuclear war too! While I know that Buddhists are supposed to transcend hope and fear, I don’t think it’s good for children to grow with [...]
Living in the Divine Abodes
Heaven is nowhere else but right here on this earth, when we live with friendliness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. In Buddhism, these benevolent states of mind are called the divine abodes. Sylvia Boorstein tells us some surprising stories about how they can be practiced. Brahmaviharas is the Buddhist name for the set of four emotional states that includes equanimity [...]
Stuck at the Airport?
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” [...]
What Dipa Ma taught Sylvia Boorstein about the mind of equanimity
Buddhist teacher Sylvia Boorstein shares an important lesson on equanimity she learned from Dipa Ma, an Indian-born teacher in the Burmese meditation tradition who is known as “the patron saint of householders." This clip was recorded at the Lion’s Roar 2017 Annual Retreat at Garrison Institute “Boundless Love.” Transcript Sylvia Boorstein: I'd like to tell you that I met [...]
Restoring the Mind to Kindness
When Sylvia Boorstein is in distress, she says to herself, "Sweetheart, you are in pain. Relax." Here, she explains why those words work so well. I wish it were true that regular meditation and prayer guaranteed equanimity, but it’s not that way for me. I began to practice mindfulness in 1977, and I meditate and pray and study and teach, and I still get angry or worried or [...]
Sylvia Boorstein Reads the Buddha’s Teachings on Loving-kindness
Buddhist teacher Sylvia Boorstein reads the Buddha's advice on loving-kindness, from the Metta Sutta. Recorded at 2017 Lion's Roar Annual Retreat, "Boundless Love." Transcript: So it's said that the Buddha recited this sermon to all his people and they felt very uplifted by it: This is what should be done by one who is skilled in goodness and who knows the path of [...]
Meditation for Interconnectedness
Sylvia Boorstein shares a meditation for deepening our sense of interconnectedness. Here’s a practice that directly evokes the truth that there is no separate and enduring self, meditated on in the context of interconnectedness. Read these instructions and then sit up or lie down with your spine straight and your body relaxed so that breath can flow easily in and out of [...]
Practice: What Are My Intentions for Today?
A daily intention-setting practice, from Sylvia Boorstein. Read her full teaching on the power of the Buddhist practice of intention. Here is a set of intentions based on traditional Buddhist precepts. Some people I know have them taped to their bathroom mirror and say them aloud each morning: On behalf of myself and all beings, I intend to refrain from consciously hurting [...]
How Endings Make Room for Beginnings
“When I recognize the pain I feel because of loss,” says Sylvia Boorstein, “I am respectful of its presence and kind to myself. And in the truth of what has ended, I see displays of what might be beginning.” It is spring in California—the seed packets and gardening tools are already out in our supermarkets and I notice how my heart picks up when I see the display. I look at [...]
10 Buddhist Books Everyone Should Read
10 Buddhist books everyone should read, as selected by the editors of Lion's Roar. After the Ecstasy, the Laundry by Jack Kornfield (Bantam, 2000) According to Jack Kornfield, enlightenment does exist and is even pretty common. The rub is that after achieving it, day-to-day tasks and troubles still await you. This is a guide to translating our spiritual [...]
