Buddhism offers us a path to decolonize our own minds, 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 Tibetans to teach Buddhism to Westerners. I went to see him in Nepal, but he had just…
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 physician Dr. Amitha Kalaichandran observed Evolution can sometimes look like destruction to the untrained eye. We just passed 200,000…
The suffering in the world is overwhelming. But the whole mess looks differently when we have a rested, settled mind. Everyone is frazzled. Covid-19, politics, racial and economic disparities, police shootings, school shootings. That’s why it’s really important to sit down and do some formal meditation practice. Every day. It’s too easy to get…
In April of last year Doug McGill interviewed the Burmese meditation teacher Sayadaw U Tejaniya concerning how a meditator can practice mindfulness in the pandemic. His response was “practice as usual.” OK, really? His dry answers to the questions posed by the Western interviewer stewed in the back of my mind for a few…
When I do catch the mind moment, in mindful dish-washing, 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. Not really; but I do I find mindful dish-washing in the kitchen sink to be much more fulfilling. I…
Anything can happen. Yes, on the surface, that can feel ominous, especially in these times. But it is precisely because anything can happen that allows us to experience freedom from stress, grief, and burnout. It’s amazing to reflect how much we don’t know. And how consequential our open questions are. When, and how, will…
OK, that post title is a bit of click-bait. But you’re here now. So let me explain how the 13th century Japanese Zen master Dogen’s phrase is the title of this post. Some of you reading this know I tested positive for Covid-19 on July 9. At present five co-workers on the same shift on…