How to Recover from Failure

Dr. Alex Lickerman provides us with these words of wisdom today on how to recover from failure with determination. These are teachings from the Pure Land tradition of Nichiren Buddhism. This form of Japanese Buddhist practices focuses on the Lotus Sutra and relies on the Gohonzon – the chanting of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. The […]

The Best Season of Your Life

These words of wisdom from Wumen touched me the moment I read them. He was the compiler or and commenter on the Mumonkan (The Gateless Barrier) – a collection of 48 koans – stories, dialogues, questions or statements used to trigger enlightenment in Zen Buddhism and Chan Buddhism. This was one of the first books […]

Reaching the Ultimate Dimension

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh teaches us about reaching the ultimate dimension. The ultimate dimension distinguished from the historical dimension of ordinary life. In ordinary life, we have pain. We have suffering. We have conflict. We have war. We have arguments. We strive for wealth, technology, sex, and power. We lose site of what we […]

The Kingdom of God is Now or Never

This lovely video, with its beautiful lotus flowers and plum blossoms, comes from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and the nuns of Plum Village. The chant reminds us that the Kingdom of God is now or never! We may think that the Kingdom of God or the Pure Land of the Buddha is something in […]

Each Other Doesn’t Make Any Sense

Rumi was a 13th century Sufi mystic. His ability to open our hearts helps to dissolve religious, social, economic, and personal boundaries. His poetry inspires us to consider friendship and connections with others to be sacred activities. Rumi spoke his poetry in beautiful words and images in such a way that I’m sure he recognized […]

Don’t Despair – Take Action

The response to Peter Cutler’s article about the bombings in Boston repeated in All You Need Is Love have sparked another very interesting set of comments from other OI members. In particular, Mitchell Ratner, posted an article on the website of the Still Water Mindfulness Practice Center in Washington, D. C. His article, Despair Is the […]