One of the many things that you can do for your happiness and the happiness of others is to practice kindness. Kindness has the capacity to spread like wildfire. If you are kind to the grocery clerk who checked you out, he or she will be kind to the rest of the people she serves […]
Self-Forgiveness
August 3, 2017 by
Self-forgiveness, like self-compassion can often be very difficult. If we remember what Jack Kornfield said, “Forgiveness is giving up all hope of a better past,” we can begin to forgive ourselves and other people in our lives. In my way of thinking, forgiveness, like gratitude and loving kindness, are clear paths to inner peace and […]
A Song For All Beings
March 3, 2017 by
Last Saturday night, I attended a performance of A Song For All Beings to a packed house. Composed and produced by Jennifer Berezan and friends, A Song For All Beings is based on the Buddhist practice of metta and the four immeasurable minds or Brahma Viharas (divine abodes) of loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and […]
How to Navigate this Crazy World
February 9, 2017 by
These words of wisdom on how to navigate this crazy world came to me today from Dr. Lissa Rankin from her The Daily Flame email. I think that this is an important one to share, especially because we have been discussing deep listening and loving speech in our Mindfulness in Healing sangha for the past couple of […]
Man is Not the Enemy
January 20, 2017 by
With lots of unrest in the world and in the United States about the inauguration we have to remember that man is not the enemy. So who or what is the enemy? I would say that greed, aggression and delusion are the enemy – the three poisons taught by the Buddha. For example, in Tanzania, […]
The Declaration Of Interdependence
July 4, 2016 by
We, the sentient beings of the third planet (earth) from the star commonly known as the “sun”, declare that all existence is in a state of interdependence. The state of interdependence is a state of interbeing, of interconnectedness. We recognize that people, animals, plants and minerals inter-are and share a single dwelling place on planet earth. […]
Four Questions on Racial Justice
May 24, 2016 by
These four questions on racial justice were pondered by three participants at the Earth Holder Retreat on Saturday, April 30 at the Deer Park Monastery in Escondido, California. What are your personal connections with racial justice? Touching the mud: what are the challenges, feelings and difficulties that you had growing up? When I think about […]
The Three Poisons
May 17, 2016 by
The three poisons or the three roots (of suffering) were the subject of Brother Phap Vu‘s dharma talk on Saturday, April 30, 2016 at the Earth Holder Retreat in the Deer Park Monastery. The three poisons are variously translated as shown in the following table (reading down) desire greed attraction hatred ill-will aversion ignorance illusion […]
Guided Meditation for Loving Kindness
April 5, 2016 by
This guided meditation for loving kindness was created by Michael Sealey and is quite good for learning how to give and receive loving kindness, compassion, happiness, abundance and healing and eliminating stress and anxiety. Michael begins with a soothing body scan that takes about 7 minutes. Then he asks us to bring into mind an […]
The Benefit of Meditation
February 24, 2016 by
Where do we look for the benefit of meditation? Is it in our ability to sit for hours at a time and not budge? Is it in our excellent record of retreat attendance? Is it in life itself? Sharon Salzberg tells us… “The place to look for the benefit of meditation is in your life, […]
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