Singapore’s Brit Hume? Not quite — this time, there was at least an apology. (With video)

Rony Tan, founder of Singapore’s Lighthouse Evangelism Church, is in hot water for his recent “jokes” about Buddhism — among then, the suggestion that one might follow Buddhism thanks to demonic forces. The country’s Ministry of Home Affairs has stated that “Pastor Tan’s comments were highly inappropriate and unacceptable as they trivialized and insulted the beliefs of Buddhists and Taoists. “They can also give rise to tension and conflict between the Buddhist/Taoist and Christian communities.”

Tan, for his part, has now stated on the Church’s website that he recognizes that his comments were “wrong” and offensive.” A smart move, if only because such defamation is considered a punishable offense in Singapore. (Frankly, it the move seems as calculated as Tan’s onstage conversations seem scripted.) But the fact remains: an apology was called for, and, in this case, delivered.

So what did “Pastor Tony” say? We’ve got video after the jump. Continued »

War and Women’s Power

The idea that “if mothers ran the world there would be no war” has been around for quite a while. Now there’s scientific research that seems to agree with that thesis.

Who among us hasn’t asked why war is such a persistent feature of human life? The most common answer is that people make war because society has taught them to make war. In their controversial book, Sex and War: How Biology Explains Warfare and Terrorism and Offers a Path to a Safer World, obstetrician and biologist Malcolm Potts and journalist Thomas Hayden claim instead that warring aggression is built into our species. There are measures we can take, however, to increase the likelihood of peace breaking out instead of war, the authors say, and their prescriptions focus mostly on empowering women.

I talked with Malcolm Potts in his office at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is the Bixby Professor in the School of Public Health. Continued »

Sit-a-Long with Taigu: Zazen for Beginners (Part XV)

Sitting the body-mind, there is neither inside nor outside. Both, and none of them.

Not caught by distractions, forms, not sucked into inner dreaming, we are the open gate, open threshold of both eyes settled in a serene gaze, not trapped by the world, nor away from it. Looking at nothing in particular, we are looking at everything.

Below is today’s Sit-A-Long video. Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended. Continued »

For you on Valentine’s Day: True Love and Real Life

A little more love couldn’t hurt, right?

The Shambhala Sun offers the inspiration of loving-kindness from the best Buddhist teachers. And now, in honor of Valentine’s Day, you can get True Love and Real Life—a lovely, downloadable digital book—when you order a subscription for you, or someone you love.

Explore love and relationships with today’s leading spiritual voices inspired by Buddhist wisdom. Just click here to order.

Sit-a-Long with Jundo: Zazen for Beginners (Part XIV)

Every moment of Zazen is complete, sacred, a perfect action, with not one thing to add, not one thing to take away. When we sit Zazen, we are a Buddha sitting.

And all of this life and world can be known too as sacred, a jewel, with not one thing to add, not one thing to take away. Perfectly just-what-it-is.

But we have to be very cautious here, not misunderstand … Saying that there is “no place to go, no destination” does not mean that there are not good and bad paths to get there! Saying “there is nothing that need be done” does—not—mean there is nothing to do. Saying that “nothing is in need of change” does—not—mean that “nothing is in need of change.”  :shock:

Saying “we are already Buddha” is not enough if we don’t realize that, act like that! Click through to watch today’s talk, and to “sit-a-long”: Continued »

Shambhala Sun Audio: Edward Espe Brown on mindfulness in the kitchen

Mindful cooking is not detached or subdued, says Edward Espe Brown in “Let Your Passion Cook,” from our March 2010 “Mindful Living” issue. It’s cooking with your whole being engaged — mind, body, and emotions.

In this new Shambhala Sun Audio clip, the author of The Complete Tassajara Cookbook talks with Shambhala Sun Associate Editor Andrea Miller about the aesthetics of food, cooking “in the dark,” his relationship with Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, “insipid tomatoes,” and more.

Click through to listen, and to read “Let Your Passion Cook” in its entirety — along with a favorite Brown recipe.

Continued »

Earth Dharma: Buddhist Survival in the Andes

By Jill S. Schneiderman

I just finished reading Nando Parrado’s account of his 72-day ordeal of pain and suffering in the South American cordillera, Miracle in the Andes (2006). It’s an extraordinary testimony of his survival, along with 15 out of 45 people, most of them rugby teammates, after their privately chartered airplane crashes into the side of a volcano en route from Montevideo, Uruguay to San Fernando, Chile and comes to rest on a glacier at nearly 12,000 feet above sea level. Instead of having these members of the Old Christians rugby team play an exhibition game in Chile, the boys—most of them no more than 23 years old—find themselves relying on each other and their most intimate interior selves as they struggle to survive after the Argentine, Uruguayan and Chilean rescue teams have given up the search. Parrado’s observations about the exterior landscape in which he survives impressed me as a geologist. Even more amazing however were his remarks about the interior landscape of survival because to me they resonated with Buddhist thinking about living with suffering. Continued »

Book Brief: The Good Karma Divorce

The Good Karma Divorce:
Avoid Litigation, Turn Negative Emotion into Positive Actions, and Get On with the Rest of Your Life

By Judge Michele Lowrance
HarperOne, 256 pp. $25.99

In most cases, divorce is painful for everyone involved.  But in The Good Karma Divorce, Judge Michele Lowrance offers a way to lessen the suffering. With a close-up view from the bench, she has seen many emotional courtroom battles in which couples get caught up in unloading their heartache. Lowrance, a practicing Buddhist, believes that there are two paths that couples can take when ending a relationship: choosing to remain bitter and antagonistic, or opting for soul-searching, which can lead to grace and compassion. Lowrance is like a Sherpa as she guides the reader on a climb toward self-assurance, dignity, and strength. Working with the law of karma, Lowrance explains how acting with understanding and patience can change who you are—for the better. She uses a teaching by the Buddha to sum up her point: “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” Yes, the fiery intensity of a breakup can be overwhelming, but Lowrance’s refreshing perspective can help cool your emotions and heal your heart. — Rebecca Spence

For more about Judge Michele Lowrance’s work, see Barry Boyce’s profile of her on our special “Mindful Society” page.

Sit-a-Long with Jundo: Zazen for Beginners (Part XIII)

More in our series on How To” Zazen

In “Just Sitting” Zazen Practice, we learn to take life like the weather … Whatever comes, comes.

Thus, we practice sitting on the cushion with energy, dedication and effort … all while dropping all goals, dropping all need to attain, dropping all judgments, dropping all resistance. Each moment on the cushion is complete, sacred, a perfect act, with not one thing to add, not one thing to take away.  What is attained thereby is attaining non-attaining.

And in this way, we encounter a way to live with energy, dedication, striving, moving forward in life … all without need to attain, taking all as it comes. Action and stillness, all at once. No separation from life, just as it is. Each moment of life is complete, sacred, with not one thing to add, not one thing to take away  … even when not as we think it “should be“, even as we work to make better what needs to be made better.

Click through to watch today’s talk, and to “sit-a-long”: Continued »

What can Buddhism teach us about debt?

Quite a bit, say Laura Joman Martin and husband Patrick Bonsho Green of the Zen Community of Oregon. They’re leading a workshop on dharma and debt on February 6 in Portland. In a recent interview in the Oregonian, they talk about the importance of being mindful of spending. “We are bathed in a society where minds are filled with the message that a product can bring us contentment, that these things are the way to happiness. A teaching like the one Saturday is giving people the tools to sit still and look inside. How far you want to take it, how deeply you would like to incorporate it into your life, is up to you.”

Sit-a-Long with Taigu: Zazen for Beginners (Part XII)

Rev. Taigu continues his comments for “beginners” on allowing sitting to just sit … to open, to blossom …

He talks a bit about legs flowing into the ground, the hands in mudra, the gently closed mouth, where the head is let to head … and other bits of the whole … directing, not ‘doing’

Below is today’s Sit-A-Long video. Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended. Click through to watch today’s talk, and to “sit-a-long”: Continued »

Organizations, take note: Our “Auction for a Mindful Society” is coming soon.

The Shambhala Sun’s coming “Auction for a Mindful Society” is a way for organizations to extend their message of mindfulness and awareness to a wide audience, and to support our initiative to report on and promote all the important efforts being made to create a mindful society.

Have an organization or business that would like to pitch in to the auction? Interested in knowing more? Just click through here. Continued »

Sit-a-Long with Jundo: Zazen for Beginners (Part XI)

What’s the most important thing to remember about ‘breathing‘ during Zazen?

DON’T STOP!

Last time, I spoke about how there is no “bad” Zazen, even on those days when the mind is very cloudy with thoughts and emotions. But in fact, there are a couple of things we can do to settle down when the mind is really, really, really, stirred up with tangled thoughts, wild emotions and confusion.

Click through to watch today’s talk, and to “sit-a-long”: Continued »

Send your message to “Thank You Tibet!”

The Tibet Fund, PeaceJam and others invite you to join Thank You Tibet! — a campaign to  send messages to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people to thank them for preserving and sharing their culture of wisdom and compassion and for inspiring the world to work for peace.

Create a message in any medium—video, music, visual art, photography, and/or text—to express the ways that Tibetan Buddhism and culture have inspired you and changed your life. Messages will be presented during a special program with Nobel Peace laureates Jody Williams and Shirin Ebadi, and Philip Glass, Robert Thurman, Michael Imperioli, Bobby McFerrin, and Tibetan performers at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City on March 4, 2010.  Messages will also be given to H.H. the Dalai Lama and leaders of the Tibetan exile community at a later date. Continued »

Earth Dharma: “Caribbean Awakening”

Jack Kornfield has commented that Suzuki Roshi captured the essence of Buddhism with the words: “not always so.”

Reports of earthquakes and tsunamis in the Caribbean region continue to shake my world in Barbados and remind me of Suzuki Roshi’s wisdom.
Continued »