These words of wisdom from Shaila Catherine express the highest kind of happiness – the happiness equanimity. Shaila Catherine is the founder and guiding teacher of Insight Meditation South Bay and author of Focused and Fearless: A Meditator’s Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity. What she says about the highest kind of […]
Pema Chodron Demonstrates the Fundamental Ambiguity of Being Human
These words of wisdom from Pema Chodron demonstrates the fundamental ambiguity of being human. To experience our true nature, we must let go and not struggle or resist change. Change is one of the most fundamental physical laws of the universe. We live in an emerging universe where nothing is static. Under the influence of […]
Equanimity and Wisdom Work Together for a Happy Life
Andrew Olendzki is one of my favorite writers on Buddhism. Together with S. N. Goenka, we learn that equanimity and wisdom work together for a happy life. In the Tricycle article, Andrew says, “Mindfulness is the thin edge of a wedge that, if inserted deeply enough into our minds, will open them to wisdom. Whether […]
Taking Care of Our Families
Taking care of our families is just as important as dharma practice. Even though we are taught that “non-attachment is essential,” we must continue to love and support our family members. I find this teaching to be really essential. At a time when many of my friends were attending retreats away from their families, I […]
How to Regard All Beings
Here is a quote from Huineng on how to regard all beings. Other than the quote, which is from Tricycle.com, this is my recollection of his role in Zen Buddhism. Huineng was the sixth patriarch of Zen. He was born in 638 and died in 713 at the age of 75. He began his spiritual […]
Loving Kindness for All Beings
The music in this video is by Ashana from her album, All is Forgiven. The song is called, Loving Kindness for all beings! A friend of mine shared this with me for healing, relaxation, and inner peace. It was the one song I relied on during my recent eight weeks of cancer treatments. The words […]
Body Sensations and Vipassana Meditation
Eilona Ariel is a film maker and a vipassana meditator. She to the ten day vipassana training offered by Goenka in Nepal more than 26 years ago. She decided to make a film about body sensations and vipassana meditation with Ayelet Menahemi. In this Ted Talk held in Jaffa, Israel in 2013, she explains about […]
The Basic Irrelevance of the Human Condition
Modern cosmologists have investigated our place in the universe and has found that our lives on earth are basically irrelevant. Thomas Merton recognized this long before it became a scientific fact. He wrote this in The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton, which was published in 1975. This was almost fifteen years before cosmologists even proved […]
Let Go of Scarcity and Fear by Cultivating Joy and Gratitude
In this video, we learn to let go of scarcity and fear by cultivating joy and gratitude. It is another segment from Super Soul Sunday in which Oprah Winfrey interviews Dr. Brené Brown. Dr. Brown says, “When we lose our tolerance to be vulnerable, joy becomes foreboding, and so what we do in moments of […]
The Four Immeasurable Minds
The four immeasurable minds are some of my favorite insights that have come from the Buddha. What are the four immeasurable minds? They are loving kindnesss, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. I can remember a time when I had muscle invasive bladder cancer for the first time in 1997. I was watching my daughter, Rachael, […]
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