August 13, 2010 – 7:32 am
During August, for my Institute for Jewish Spirituality Meditation Teacher Training program, we were to focus on breathing. During the first week of the month our teachers directed us to get back to basics—to use the breath actively as a concentration practice, experimenting with techniques such as labeling, counting, and paying attention to specifics such [...]
I recently picked up — and couldn’t stop reading — Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, because I reside with three of his so-called “R(ight brain)-directed” thinkers, and as a scientist I’ve lived most of my professional life in a “L(eft brain)-directed” world. So, though I was motivated by personal [...]
By Jill S. Schneiderman
Dr. Francisco Varela (1946-2001), a neuroscientist and Buddhist practitioner involved intimately in the initiative to foster dialogue and collaboration between modern scientists and Buddhist contemplatives, commented that Buddhism, as an outstanding source of observations concerning human mind and experience accumulated over centuries with great theoretical rigor, is an uncanny complement to science.
Appreciating [...]
After President Obama’s address to the nation last night, Shambhala Sun “Earth Dharma” blogger Jill S. Schneiderman had mixed feelings: “As much as I was glad to hear him assert that we must pay attention in this moment and move forward on alternative energy initiatives, I was sorry to hear the commander-in-chief’s [...]
By Jill S. Schneiderman
The U.S. government and reporters have gone from calling the BP/Transocean calamity an accident to referring to it as an environmental crime. In my opinion, that’s an improvement in verbal accuracy but it misses an even larger and vastly important point. We are now witnessing in the Gulf of [...]
It’s time, says Zen teacher Ian Prattis, to examine our minds, consumption patterns, and personal culpability in the BP oil disaster. “Guidelines are necessary,” he contends, and here he provides them by way of the Mindfulness Trainings of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.
It is no surprise to discover that BP deliberately underestimated the amount [...]
By Jill S. Schneiderman
“What counts is not the enormity of the task, but the size of the courage,” says Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk and confidant of the Dalai Lama who was dubbed “Mr. Happy” after U.S. neuroscientists declared him the most content man they ever tested. Ricard’s statement resonated for me in light of [...]
Eric Ripert discovered Buddhism at the Charles de Gaulle airport when he was looking for a copy of Playboy. When his eyes fell upon a Buddhist book, he decided the Playboy could wait. He’s now a Vajrayana Buddhist influenced by the Geluk and Nyingma schools, and an award-winning chef at the prestigious restaurant, Le Bernardin, [...]
My son, Leon, asked if he could sit-a-long today. I am always glad to have him plop down in my lap during Zazen. Since it is “Children’s Day” in Japan next week, I thought to let Leon pick the theme. We had been watching news reports of that terrible oil spill in the Gulf of [...]
By Michele Martin
As the days pass, information from Tibet becomes more clear and detailed: twenty-three monks were killed at Thrangu Monastery (see our previous post here); nine with serious injuries are in the hospital; around forty have a range of injuries that are being treated on site as best as possible. Structural damage [...]
In his recent book, The World We Have: A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology (2008), the great Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh asserts that Buddhism, as a robust type of humanism, allows people to learn how to live on our planet not only responsibly, but with compassion and lovingkindness. Every Buddhist [...]
April 19, 2010 – 12:09 pm
A guest post by Michele Martin
Thrangu Monastery in Tibet was near the epicenter of the devastating quake of April 14. It was almost completely destroyed and many of the monks were killed or are missing. Over many years, the monastery had been rebuilt through the hard work of the monks and local people. They [...]
April 18, 2010 – 11:14 am
With the earth functioning for me as an object on which to meditate, or at least as a source of teachings that resonate with Buddhadharma, doubt is the hindrance that shakes my ability to use earthdharma to cultivate equanimity in light of the April 13 earthquake in Qinghai Province, China. Scientific understanding of earth processes [...]
April 17th update: The Yushu earthquake death toll has risen to 1100. [Photos here, via the Boston Globe and AP.] The Dalai Lama is hoping to get to Tibet. And meanwhile, the Karmapa has spoken. Via the Kagyu Office:
“I was extremely saddened to hear of the catastrophic loss of human life and the severe [...]
Breaking, heartbreaking news this morning: a series of earthquakes — including one of a 6.9 magnitude — have struck a Chinese/Tibetan border region. The quakes were centered in Yushu county, in the southern part of Qinghai — a mountainous region in the traditional Tibetan province of Kham. Between 600-700 people have been reported killed, with [...]
