Non-Violence

Ahimsa – non-violence, is a common thread in Hinduism and Buddhism. In Christianity and Judaism, we find the commandment, “Thou shall not kill!” We all know about all the religious wars that were fought in the name of God and the violent acts of killing that took place. Ahimsa is a comprehensive principle. We are […]

The Perfection Of Ethics

In the previous post, The Perfection of Generosity, we learned that the perfection of ethics was one of the paramitas taught by the Buddha. The paramitas are practices that take us to the other shore from ill-being to well-being. A common translation of the Sanskrit word, paramita, is perfection or completeness, as was stated previously. […]

The Perfection Of Generosity

In the previous post, The Power Of I Am, we saw that giving is one of the keys to experience the embodiment of God using the power of  I Am. In Buddhism, this corresponds to the perfection of generosity. It is one of the six paramitas or the practice of crossing over to the other […]

Cosmology And Buddhist Thought – The Book!

Cosmology and Buddhist Thought: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson JUST RELEASED Do the modern science of cosmology and ancient Buddhist thought have anything in common? Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson and Dr. Jerome Freedman try to answer this question in a conversation that took place in New York in May, 2011. Dr. Tyson is […]

How To Change Your Beliefs

This video was posted by Laura Silva, president of the Silva Method, on the Silva Life System blog. It was created by someone named Deborah and tells how to change your beliefs. This will change your life! Laura comments, …The universe is so abundant of everything it makes me wonder when people say they don’t […]

Engaged Buddhism

These words of wisdom from Sulak Sivaraksa rang true to me because of his work with engaged Buddhism. Together with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, The Dalai Lama, and Maha Ghosananda, he formed the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB). Thich Nhat Hanh, as you probably know is a peace activist and is well-known for […]

Scientific Buddhism

Lama Jampa Thaye is a scholar, author, and meditation master from the UK. He is trained in both the Karma Kagyu and Sakya traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. In this article from the Tricycle blog, he emphatically speaks out against scientific Buddhism. What is scientific Buddhism? It is the effort to radically alter Buddhist ideas to correspond to […]

Stories We Tell Ourselves

This quote is from Sharon Salzberg, a renowned teacher of vipassana meditation and co-founder of the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies with Joseph Goldstein. She is especially known for her teachings on loving kindness meditation. Mindfulness helps us get better at seeing the difference between what’s happening and the stories we tell ourselves about what’s happening, stories that […]

Happiness And The Experience Of No Self

Polly Young-Eisendrath is a scholar of  Buddhism and Western psychology. She gave this Tedx talk at Middlebury University on Getting Free Of Self-Importance Is The Key To Happiness. The gist of her talk was that self-consciousness and self-centeredness lead us into the experience of self conscious emotions. She lists shame, guilt, envy, and jealousy as the […]

A Marine And An Army Veteran

This article is related to two previous articles. The first one is on Jon Kabat-Zinn‘s consultation with top leaders in the United Kingdom last week about cutting health care costs (see Mindfulness In Health Care) and yesterday’s article about US Marines getting mindfulness training and yoga (see Marines Learning Push Ups For The Brain). On April 8, […]