As an ex-GI, I often find my heart and loving-kindness practice embracing our enlisted men and women throughout the world, and especially those in war zones. War is hell. That’s no cliché, and only those who have been in combat can truly testify to what that phrase means. That’s why around Veterans Day I highlighted the […]
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Tag Archives: heaven
Krishnamurti-Fear of Death is Really Fear of Life
2010/10/23 
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Death & Life J. Krishnamurti You cannot be frightened of the unknown because you do not know what the unknown is and so there is nothing to be afraid of. Death is a word, and it is the word, the image, that creates fear. So can you look at death without the image of death? […]
Continue reading Kabir – “The Sound” – Poem and Music
2010/06/07 1 Comment
The Sound by Kabir The flute of the interior is played whether we hear it or not, What we mean by “love” is its sounding coming in. When love hits the farthest edge of excess, it reaches a wisdom. And the fragrance of that knowledge! It penetrates our thick bodies, it goes through walls— Its […]
Continue readingMemorial Day 2010-Poem and Song for Young Men Who Died
2010/05/31 0 Comments
Here Dead We Lie A. E. Housman Here dead we lie Because we did not choose To live and shame the land From which we sprung. Life, to be sure, Is nothing much to lose, But young men think it is, And we were young. Click here to hear “Let Them In” by John Gorka: […]
Continue reading Kabir-“The Time Before Death”-Poem and Music
2010/05/27 4 Comments
Although my path is not the path of theism, I have greatest respect for those who follow this path with love, integrity, and compassion. My own teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, has always sought an ecumenical approach with various spiritual traditions: See: Thich Nhat Hanh on Buddhism, Mindfulness, and the Holy Spirit Buddha and Christ—Let the […]
Continue reading Thich Nhat Hanh-No Death, No Fear (audio)
2010/04/22 8 Comments
“Our greatest fear is that when we die we will become nothing. We believe we are born from nothing and that when we die we become nothing. And so we are filled with fear of annihilation. The Buddha has a very different understanding, that birth and death are notions. They are not real.” ~ Thich […]
Continue readingHeaven-I’ll Believe It When I See It For Myself (music)
2010/03/02 0 Comments
This is another in the series of “dharma songs” I’ve been posting from time to time. These are songs that have comforted, challenged, inspired, helped, and healed me over the years. I invite you to look up the song and have a listen (the lyrics tell only part the story; the music and voices complete […]
Continue reading Groundhog Day and the serious problem of impermanence
2010/01/31 5 Comments
One of the most basic teachings of the Buddha, so far as I understand it, is that all conditioned things, all contingent things, all fabricated things, all things that arise, and thus all things that pass away, are inherently impermanent, and thus are intrinsically dukkha—suffering and unsatisfactoriness. Further, the Buddha, or Buddhism, teaches that our […]
Continue reading Buddhism’s Practical Answer to the Problem of Evil-Part 2
2010/01/21 3 Comments
In my previous post, Buddhism’s Practical Answer to the Problem of Evil – Part 1, I focused on how the Buddha’s focus on answering this problem was not philosophical or metaphysical, but practical and existential. Indeed, philosophical and metaphysical beliefs can utterly sidetrack us from seeing the truth of things for ourselves. I also posted […]
Continue reading Metta Music-This Morning I Am Born Again
2010/01/06 4 Comments
This is another in the series of “dharma songs” I’ve been posting from time to time. These are songs that have comforted, inspired, helped, and healed me over the years. I invite you to look up the song and have a listen (the lyrics tell only part the story; the beautiful music and voice complete […]
Continue readingChristmas Metta 2009-The Four Immeasurables
2009/12/25 8 Comments
My Christmas gift to all is this wonderful explanation of The Four Immeasurables from the wonderful Naljor Prison Dharma Service, located in Boulder, Colorado. Metta is one of the four sides of the Four Immeasurables, and though this site’s emphasis is on metta, or loving-kindness, you can no more separate metta from compassion, sympathetic joy, […]
Continue reading Tara Brach and Radical Acceptance
2009/12/15 10 Comments
Tara Brach is a highly skillful meditation teacher who brings 35 years of insight meditation practice to her background as a clinical psychologist. Her book, Radical Acceptance, brought a huge amount of emotional and spiritual healing into my life, and I can’t recommend her enough. At her website you can find wonderful talks and teachings—both […]
Continue readingGoing Home by Coming Back to Oneself
2009/12/10 5 Comments
Today, I’ve been reading again my heart teacher’s wonderful book Going Home-Jesus and Buddha as Brothers. At this time of the year, with so many people going home, or wishing they could go home, or dreading going home, these teachings from Thich Nhat Hanh can be a big help. May these words of wisdom comfort […]
Continue reading How the Need to Be Perfect Creates Self-hate
2009/11/17 0 Comments
“Adopting the belief that you must be perfect is the perfect set up for self-hate. You believe that your choices are to be perfect or to be a failure. BUT SELF-HATE SETS THE STANDARD OF PERFECTION, and you can bet you are never going to meet that standard. If you did, if you met that […]
Continue reading Vimalakirti and the Angry Dragon
2009/11/15 12 Comments
The Jakata tales are wonderful folklore-like tales from ancient India. They tell the adventures and accomplishments of the Buddha in previous lives as a bodhisattva, before he becomes the Buddha. In many stories, the Buddha is an animal who demonstrates the ideals of Buddhism. In this story of compassion and redemption, the bodhisattva is named […]
Continue readingThe Secrets of Heaven and Hell
2009/11/06 0 Comments
The Secrets of Heaven and Hell The old monk sat by the side of the road. With his eyes closed, his legs crossed and his hands folded in his lap, he sat. In deep meditation, he sat. Suddenly his zazen was interrupted by the harsh and demanding voice of a samurai warrior. “Old man! Teach […]
Continue readingMay All Beings Be Happy
- Looking at the Ninth Zen Precept-I Do Not Indulge In Anger
- True God, True Buddha
- The Difference Between Compassion and “Idiot Compassion”
- Ajahn Brahmavamso teaches Loving-kindness Meditation
- Now-and-Zen-Are you still carrying her?
- A Buddhist Mantra based on the Prayer of St. Francis
- Mindfulness of Breathing-The Anapanasati Sutta
- Buddhist Forgiveness-When We Have Hurt Another-Part 3
- Healing the Body with Mindfulness of Breathing
- Practicing the Middle Way-not too much, not too little
- Look at the Three Characteristics in Terms of Actions
- Thich Nhat Hanh – Healing Through Resting in the Breath
- How Metta Can Help You When Meditation is Hindered by Overwhelming Feelings
- The Importance of Taking the “Should” out of Spiritual Practice
- Can We “Choose” to Be Happy? No—and Yes!
- Ken Mcleod on how to use Thich Nhat Hanh’s Five-Step Method of Emotional Releasing
- Non-resistance and the Art of Resisting without Resisting!
- Don’t be fooled! There is a Way and We Can Walk It!
- The Importance of Compassion in Assessing Our Dharma Progress
- Jesus and the Buddha on Good Friday
Metta Refuge 