Author: Tom Davidson-Marx
the universe marinating itself
As we marinate in the present moment, we let go of the urgencies of the self, the agendas of the ego. Our marvelous mindfulness is a kind of marinating in the present moment. Seemingly solid things,…
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In Buddhism aging is a practice
As we approach the last pages of our human story, in Buddhism aging as a spiritual practice encourages us to be softer, more vulnerable, more caring and loving. The other day at the hospital, I ran…
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eating the blame
If we know how to experience our discomfort gracefully, we suffer much less. We’re no longer afraid of eating the blame when this is called for. One of my favorite Zen stories goes like this: One…
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attachment in Buddhism
The problem of attachment in Buddhism is not about having or not having an attachment, but it’s our tendency to not be aware an attachment ensnared us. Did you hear the one about the person attending…
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why meditation is important
When I started out, I had no idea exactly why meditation was important. Now meditation is truly life changing. When I first started meditating, I thought I knew why meditation is important. It helps reduce stress,…
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when is the best time to meditate?
… when the mind complains it does NOT want to meditate, says the Buddhist monk U Tejaniya I’m going to assume that you are like most of us who are into meditation–you struggle maintaining a regular…
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meditate every day? yes, you can!
We have been practicing the opposite of what meditation asks of us for so many years, no wonder it is so hard to meditate every day. I am often asked why is hard to meditate every…
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openness to experience
Meditation turns special moments on their head. It turns out we don’t need special moments to savor the openness of experience. Are you familiar with the Calvin and Hobbes cartoons? One of my favorites is when…
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in praise of maladjustment
Who is maladjusted? It is someone who lost the ability to be surprised. We must re-learn how to be surprised. Alice Walker has good advice for all of us who practice mindfulness meditation: Expect nothing. Live…
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hijacked by my news feed, again
My news feed can incline my mind toward fear, confusion and anger. But I can also re-frame my news feed to spark compassion for the suffering of others. The news. OMG, how to deal with the…
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on having no goals
As you set out on your meditation journey- avoid aggressive self-improvement. There isn’t anything to improve; the present moment is just fine as it is. One of the trickiest aspects of mindfulness meditation is the whole…
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appreciate your life
We savor our life just as it is, messy, littered with abandoned to-do lists and unfulfilled expectations. We appreciate our life now, we’re not just managing it. When asked about the fruit of meditative life,…
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let go of expectations
As we let go of expectations in our mindfulness practice, it generalizes in our life-we are more present and responsive, and less reactive. Buddhist practice is not so much about answering the so-called big questions of…
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the mindfulness of outrage
Tears well up as I type these words. I ask myself, can I let myself be mindfully undone by this pain and not shut down from it? A few days ago, President Zelensky addressed the UN…
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do I have to be Buddhist to benefit from mindfulness?
What is mindfulness meditation, and do I have to be a Buddhist to benefit from practicing it? I am frequently asked if someone needs to be a Buddhist to benefit from Buddhist meditation. My answer is…
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i read the news today, oh boy
That Putin is digging into a hole he will not get out of, is a trigger for the Buddhist contemplation practitioner to re-frame this situation as a historic teachable moment. Last week I asked if we…
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bearing witness to the war in Ukraine
I am ambivalent about mixing politics with spirituality, so I am trying to be very cautious here. But as the French sculptor Daniel Buren once wrote: Every act is political whether one is conscious of it…
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present moment happiness
As we soak in the healing waters of the present moment, the chasms between sacred and mundane, bearable and unbearable, dissolve. We live in uncertain times. Putin’s recent cold threat of a nuclear strike against Ukraine,…
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and yet, and yet … nothing but Buddhist impermanence
When we come home to who we are in our entirety, as we are here and now in the dynamic flow of impermanence, we discover we never left this place of true refuge and peace. I…
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practicing present moment awareness
The practice of present moment awareness shows us that whatever we are dealing with does not define us. Difficult stuff comes up, but it doesn’t diminish our well-being. Maybe right now as you are reading this,…
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Don’t worry about progress
Progress happens when you don’t think about it. I was struck by a poem the other day while reading a new translation of the Therigatha, a small book of verse compiled in the beginning of the…
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do you have to meditate every day?
Do you have to meditate every day? The question really should be can I be happily present with things just as they are, rather than struggling with a goal? I find that newer students don’t ask…
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stillness in meditation
With the gradual deepening of your practice, you will feel a wonderful stillness when you simply rest your awareness on the body. The meditation teacher Gil Fronsdal, in one of his talks, speaks about visiting his…
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does meditation help with patience?
I think so, but the real question is how to develop patience with the meditation process itself. The only way to fail at meditation is to stop meditating. As long as you show up, the meditative…
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the coup in Burma: when bad things happen to good Buddhists:
Although I try to not address too many political issues on this blog, for reasons I hope to make clear if you choose to read this post, the coup in Burma the morning of February…
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tears, just tears
Tears just flowed from my face when I heard Amanda Gorman, at only 22 years old, stride up to the microphone in front of an anxious worldwide audience and recite her moving poem The Hill We…
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nurture your resilience
Realize that for many our negativity bias is on steroids right now, and that’s OK. Notice the lovely things that happen in your day. Just let these short sweet moments in, and nurture your resilience.…
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lucid dreaming and meditation
Just as in a moment of lucid dreaming we realize Wow, I’m dreaming, we can similarly realize while meditating Wow, I’m thinking. I had this dream the other night that allowed me to see similarities between…
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it’s crooked!
There is a lot of pressure on the whole pandemic New Year’s thing, right? I mean, the pandemic, economic turmoil; not to mention I am behind a few loads of laundry. And all of a sudden…
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thank you, nonetheless
Buddhism offers us a path to decolonize the mind, thankfully. It not only teaches inclusion, it points out the shared insanity of separateness that causes so much suffering. Lama Thubten Yeshe was one of the first…
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a moment of well-being
Despite all that is wrong, I can still take delight in a moment of well-being. News stories are not the conversation starters they used to be. In the day, I could fill an awkward gap by…
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a peaceful, uneasy feeling
I feel that I should be above it all, but mostly I’m not. I struggle with my emotions. Practicing mindfulness of emotions helps a lot, but sometimes I am just plain sad or overcome by all…
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check the lining of your own mind
Just when I thought things couldn’t get more dreadful, they did. Yes, I know pandemics happen. Evolution hurts sometimes, I guess. Writing in the New York Times on September 23rd of this year, the epidemiologist and…
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how to meditate every day when it seems impossible
The suffering in the world is overwhelming, but the whole mess looks differently when we when know how to meditate every day. Everyone is frazzled. Shootings, politics, racial and economic disparities, climate catastrophies. That’s why it’s really…
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the pure delight of samadhi
With samadhi, our simple path of awareness reveals the wonderful secrets hidden in the depth of our being. Meditation has many wonders to reveal, but they remain hidden until we develop samadhi. Many insights into the…
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it’s just nature, my dear
The Burmese meditation teacher Sayadaw U Tejaniya on how a meditator can practice mindfulness during the pandemic. His response was “practice as usual.” OK, really? His dry answers to the questions posed by the Western interviewer…
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mindful dishwashing
When I do catch the mind moment, in mindful dishwashing, the most ordinary things take on inexpressible beauty. A few folks have asked me if I am feeling any lingering effects from my recent Covid-19 illness.…
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not knowing in Buddhism is just fine
Anything can happen at any time. This is called not knowing in Buddhism. And it’s precisley because anything can happen that we can also experience freedom from stress, grief, and burnout. It’s amazing to reflect how…
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let’s live like nomads
I love Buddhist humor. I especially love the way many Buddhist meditation masters find humorous ways to show us how uptight we can get. If you don’t have a sense of humor, you have no sense…
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simple, clear and delicious
Our simple practice of sustaining mindful attention on the most ordinary happenings in our everyday life, can bring this feeling of really being alive. We meditate for many different reasons. Often, our original motivations morph…
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