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12 Misperceptions about Buddhism
Although Western interest in Buddhism has clearly grown in recent decades, with a special interest in practices such as meditation and mindfulness, some people may still dismiss it as either an ancient Asian religion involving arcane rituals or a fad of rock stars and Hollywood actors.
A Garden for Enlightenment
The art of “synchronizing yourself to the natural flow of the energy that surrounds you”
A Purr for Help: How A Rescued Cat Opened My Heart
Nearly broke and pessimistic about the world, journalist Jane Ganahl heart and mind were opened by one abandoned cat.
A Zen Master's Guide to the Bible
A short introduction to the world’s first Buddhist Bible study group.
All Kinds of Attachments
We had a small group in our local sangha for our discussion last time, but a larger one when it was time for meditation, with a light and dry snow drifting down outside, which is w…
Angry Meditators
We had 17 people for for our weekly local meditation group this week, including some faces we haven’t seen for a while! We read the last section of the chapter “Lovingkindness” i…
Awakening to the Kalachakra
How easy it is to completely miss the inner wisdom of our ancient wisdom traditions.
Being Human with Roshi Joan Halifax
Rabbi Rami chats with Roshi Joan Halifax about her spiritual roots and connecting to each other's humanity.
Beyond
Buddhist and Christian PrayersTina Turner, Dechen Shak-Dagsay and Regula CurtiThe hauntingly beautiful opening “Alleluia” gives way to a Buddhist chant, then blends the spirit of t…
Book Review: A Fearless Heart
A Fearless HeartHow the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our LivesBy Thupten Jinpa, PhDHUDSON STREET PRESSCharles Darwin’s ideas have often been used to portray human…
Book Review: Awakening Together
From climate change to white supremacy and the threat of nuclear war, the world’s alarming problems seem to be growing exponentially. That means we need to tackle them as teams, as…
Book Review: Emotional Rescue
Emotional RescueHow to Work with Your Emotions to Transform Hurt and Confusion into Energy that Empowers YouBy Dzogchen Ponlop RinpocheTARCHER/PENGUIN“Emotions get their power from…
Book Review: In Search of Buddha’s Daughters
In Search of Buddha’s DaughtersA Modern Journey Down Ancient Roadsby Christine ToomeyThe ExperimentThe Buddhist nuns encountered in Christine Toomey’s In Search of Buddha’s Daughte…
Book Review: Silence
SilenceThe Power of Quiet in a World Full of NoiseBy Thich Nhat Hanh HARPERONEIn his popular writings, Thich Nhat Hanh presents Buddhist teachings in a way that anyone can int…
Book Review: Unsubscribe
“To be a spiritual rebel,” Josh Korda writes in Unsubscribe, “one has to give the middle finger to materialism, self-centered fear, self-serving luxury, financial security. We have…
Book Review: Waking the Buddha
Waking the BuddhaHow the Most Dynamic and Empowering Buddhist Movement in History Is ChangingOur Concept of ReligionBy Clark StrandMiddleway PressThe journalist Clark Strand believ…
Brilliant Moon
Glimpses of Dilgo Khyentse RinpocheBy Neten Chokling, with narration by Richard Gere and Lou ReedBeautifully filmed in Tibet, India, the United States, Bhutan, and Nepal, this docu…
Buddhism and Aging
A student once asked Shunryu Suzuki, “Why do we meditate?” “So you can enjoy your old age,” the Zen master answered. Last Sunday was the four-hour block sitting at our local medit…
Buddhism and the Twelve Steps
For some addicts, hitting bottom and having a spiritual awakening are the first steps along the path of recovery. That's why Alcoholics Anonymous, the oldest and largest of the twe…
Buddhism Curious
A seeker wants to delve into this ancient religion and is wondering how to get started
Buddhism Through American Women's Eyes
Buddhism Through American Women's EyesEdited by Karma Lekshe TsomoFor Western women, Buddhism’s enticing spiritual package creates some dilemmas when it comes wrapped in an Asian c…
Called to Act
The founder of Buddhist Global Relief, Brooklyn-born monk Bhikku Bodhi reflects on his path from inner peace to changing the world.
Chicken & Egg Meditation
Yesterday was very cold and blowing light snow, but we had 11 of us sitting together, anyway! We’re into the chapter, “Compassion,” in One Dharma. The core question that leads to l…
Close the the Ground: Fashionista as Monk
In honor of spring, I decided to buy a new pair of pants. Usually, I head for St. Vincent de Paul for gently reused clothes, partly to keep the cloth out of landfills a bit longer …
Close to the Ground: Bowing to Spring
At the end of the third week of a monthlong pilgrimage to Korea some sixteen years ago, I was completely broken. Before we began the pilgrimage, I figured that a shaved head would …
Close to the Ground: Buddhaland
She was sitting on a bench outside the grocery store where I shop. It was 8 a.m. and drizzling—typical for spring in Eugene. I watched her sip coffee out of a well-worn Starbucks c…
Close to the Ground: Even in a Brothel
When I first started out on this meditation path decades ago, I was awed by the people who would show up at the Zen Buddhist Temple for the 5:00 a.m. services and sit like mountain…
Close to the Ground: Monkey on my Mind
The cat died.That she was 17 and riddled with cancer didn’t make her passing any easier for the rest of us. We cried hard when we put her down. The vet tech was sweet. “It’s the pr…
Close to the Ground: The Secret of Abiding Joy
I’m sitting, watching Parker perform her first dance masterpiece. Its baseline is a collection of moves from her gymnastics class. She has layered on top of these most of the compo…
Close to the Ground: Two Words
When it was time to step down from my role as the guiding teacher of Still Point Zen Buddhist Temple some 10 years ago, I spent a long time fussing about what my final dharma talk …
Complicated/Simple Compassion
“This compassion thing is so much more complicated than I thought,” said Mary Elizabeth as our local group continued with the chapter in One Dharma on “Compassion.” We think we’ll …
Cultivating a Gratitude Practice
In all my years of following the Buddhist path, there has been only one teaching that made me cringe. Whenever I heard it, my reaction was, “Are you kidding me?!” Here’s the …
Dying as a Spiritual Practice: An Interview with BJ Miller
Sam Mowe: You’re the executive director at Zen Hospice Project. Are you a Zen practitioner? BJ Miller: No, ironically. I'm very drawn to Buddhism—and I can’t refute any…
Face to the Floor: How a Buddhist American woman opened her heart to Islam
Omar stood on my doorstep, smiling and peering at me through square, outdated glasses. He placed his hand over his heart in a traditional Muslim greeting and stepped inside. …
Film Review: Paths of the Soul
Paths of the SoulZhang WangLETV PicturesChinese director Zhang Wang’s hypnotic film follows a small group of Tibetans as they make a months-long, physically grueling pilgrimage to …
Getting “Close” to Geri Larkin
In her new book, Close to the Ground, the S&H columnist and Zen practitioner explores Buddhism’s seven factors of enlightenment: mindfulness, investigation, effort, ease, joy, …
Growing the Mind to Heal the Brain
How an ancient Buddhist tradition offers a path to complete recovery from addiction
Honoring our Interdepence
In the Soto Zen tradition, emphasis is placed on ethical or mindful acts in everyday practice. This Earth Day practice held at Green Gulch Farm and Zen Center in Northern California is offered to benefit all beings.
I Have Just Returned from 10 Days of Silence. . .
I woke up at 4:00 a.m., meditated for 11 hours, and ate my last meal of the day at 11:00 a.m.—for 10 days. Where to begin?
Is There Still a Glass Ceiling on Enlightenment?
An Interview with Jetsunma Tenzin PalmoIt is the close of the final day of her last teaching tour before retirement, and the legendary Buddhist nun Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, in the ma…
Learning to Bloom Where I Am Planted
How I turned from the question of what I wanted from life to what life wants from me
Loving Through Change
Non-attachment is a pretty familiar concept within the worlds of yoga and meditation. In Buddhism, the word anicca refers to the concept of impermanence, that nothing stays the sam…
My Reincarnation
My ReincarnationDirected by Jennifer FoxDocumentary DVDIn English (and Italian and Tibetan with English subtitles)myreincarnationfilm.comAcclaimed documentary filmmaker Jennifer Fo…
Nirvana and Spring Peepers
The weather here in northern Michigan is amazing! Scary but amazing. We should have several feet of snow, still, but hyacinths are pushing up, trees budding and starting to leaf, p…
On the Virtue of Knowing Nothing
The very title of this blog, “Spiritual Search,” puts doubt and open-mindedness at the center of our endeavor. Think about it. If we already know the answer, why even begin th…
Open-Hearted Connection
Excerpt from Shift into Freedom: The Science and Practice of Open-Hearted Awareness by Loch Kelly
Oryoki: The Practice of “Just Enough”
Gesshin Claire Greenwood shares how a Zen ritual can help us find balance in life.
Podcast: Psychologist Rick Hanson
Can you climb higher on a path to wisdom and happiness? Yes, and psychologist Rick Hanson shares how with Neurodharma.
Portrait of a Yogi
"A Rabbit Noticed My Condition"I was sad one day and went for a walk;I sat in a field.A rabbit noticed my condition and came near.It often does not take more than that to help at t…
re/VIEW: Sharon Salzberg
Renowned Buddhist meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg’s first book on meditation was Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, which she penned in 1995. Since th…
Rebel Buddha
On the Road to FreedomBy Dzogchen Ponlop RinpocheWithin each of us there lives a “rebel buddha,” the powerful intelligence of our own awake mind, the one who has the ability to tel…
Reflections on Judgment
I’m too judgmental. It is a bad habit (there I go again!), one I learned from my family, where criticism far outweighed compliments. I went to a liberal arts college to learn criti…
Restless Everything Syndrome
The First Noble Truth of Buddhism is that we can’t avoid suffering, or dukkha. But, Adreanna Limbach writes, suffering is a chance for connection.
Roshi Joan Halifax on compassion, women in Buddhism, and altruism
The founder and abbot of Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Roshi Joan Halifax has been a socially active leader in Buddhism for more than 40 years—as a civil rights activis…
So, What Do Buddhists Mean By Rebirth?
We had a class in Eastern Religions from the local college our sangha yesterday. It was a treat to have these newbies to the practice get a sense of what it is to sit and to partic…
Sound, Silence, and John Cage: Four Musical and Spiritual Ideals to Live By
I’m sitting cross-legged on a downtown sidewalk. My five year-old son is in my lap and for 10 minutes the little guy is completely focused and very still; we’re watching and listen…
Ten Thousand Joys & Ten Thousand Sorrows
A Couple's Journey Through Alzheimer's by Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle Just before Harrison Hoblitzelle died, his wife, Olivia, made him a promise that became a covenant between them:…
The Bear Went Over the Mountain.
The lake-effect snow was lovely yesterday afternoon as we began a new year with our four-hour meditation. We had ten people, maybe seven at the end. We stayed long enough afterward…
The Buddhist on Death Row: Lessons on Freeing the Mind
In time with the release of his new book, we chatted up bestselling author David Sheff on the transformation of Buddhist-practicing death row inmate Jarvis Jay Masters.
The Dark Side of Forgiveness: The Goddess Tara
Tara is one of the most famous and widely beloved goddesses in Buddhism. She was formed from a single tear shed by the sage Avalokiteshvara when, just before he ascended to enlight…
The Fuel of All Things Good
A recent issue of Business Week has stuck in my mind. The cover story is “The Case for Optimism,” and it is full of inspiring stories and studies showing that optimism works. Stude…
VIDEO: The Sound of Zen - Tassajara Mountain Retreat
On this episode of Conscious Living, we visit the nation’s oldest Zen Monastery, Tassajara, located deep in the Ventana Wilderness of California’s Los Padres Nationa…
Why I'm Not A [Blank]
A couple of weeks ago during a Q&A session after a talk I gave I was asked, “Why aren’t you a Christian?” I was intrigued by the question and its corollaries: Why I’m not a Muslim,…
Why I’m a Student of Thich Nhat Hanh
I know of no spiritual teacher or person who more fully embodies peace and compassionate understanding than Thich Nhat Hanh, or Thay, as he is lovingly known by his students.
You are Wise, Resourceful and Kind
Dathüns focus on how we can come into our heart, beyond the negative thoughts we may have about ourselves, and tune into what is really, fundamentally there.
Zen and the Art of Not Tearing Your Hair Out
If you had a time machine, would you speed forward into the future or relive the past?Someone asked me this once in a car on a road trip, and while my car-mates reminisced about ti…
