When we read the news, we might find ourselves overwhelmed with “non-OK-ness,” but Sylvia Boorstein says there are ways we can work with that feeling. I heard on the BBC World News that a supermarket chain in Great Britain now provides chaplains in their stores, available to meet with customers when they are shopping. In Leeds, the position is shared by a Buddhist nun, a [...]
The Message of the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths
Buddha Shakyamuni. India, Uttar Pradesh, late 6th century. Copper alloy sculpture with traces of paint. Via LACMA. The message of Buddha's Four Noble Truths is that paying attention and seeing clearly lead to behaving impeccably in every moment, out of love, and on behalf of all beings. The Buddha's First Teaching Accounts of the Buddha’s life, said to have been told by [...]
My Child Fears the Future
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 [...]
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 [...]
