Practice Phrases for the Four Divine Abodes

Over the past many years, I have used the following sets if practice phrases for the four Divine Abodes also known as the brahma viharas, sublime abodes, immeasurable minds and so on. I discovered these many years ago and have been studying them ever since. I  believe that they have changed my life in significant […]

Get-What-You-Want Buddhism

Jan Nattier is a scholar of Early Indian Buddhism, Early Mahayana Buddhism, and Chinese Buddhist Translation and author of A Few Good Men (Studies in the Buddhist Traditions). She was a professor of Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University and held the post of the Shinnyōen Consulting Professor (Buddhist Studies) […]

The Perfection Of Wisdom

You might think that all of the paramitas that we have studied so far lead to this one, the perfection of wisdom. While we have studied them in the order of generosity, ethics, patience, diligence, concentration, and now, wisdom, it is true that the can be studied and practiced in any order. Not only that, […]

There Is Beauty In Extreme Old Age

There are a few lines from the Mikado, a opera by Gilbert and Sullivan from 1885 that go like this, There is beauty in extreme old age. Do you fancy you are elderly enough? Information I’m requesting On a subject interesting: Is a maiden all the better when she’s tough? This refrain occurs because Ko-Ko, […]

The Five Remembrances

The Five Remembrances help us to embrace the realities of life. We all will grow old, get sick, and die. There is no escape. When we contemplate them daily, we get a perspective on life that is skillful and wholesome. Many versions exist. This version is from the Plum Village Chanting Book by Zen Master […]

The Story Of The Buddha

A few evenings ago, I watched a beautiful documentary the story of the Buddha. The movie was produced by the BBC and called “The Life of the Buddha.” The Dalai Lama appears frequently to give his insights into the story of the Buddha. The highlights of the movie include the four messengers the young Siddhartha […]

The World Without Humans

Did you ever catch an episode of Life After People on the History Channel? The ones I saw were quite thought provoking. Alan Weisman has written a book called, “The World Without Us.” In an interview with Tricycle Magazine, he spoke about global warming, population control, and what the world without humans would look like. […]