Few dharma teachers speak to my heart as does Ezra Bayda. His books Being Zen: Bringing Meditation to Life and At Home in the Muddy Water: A Guide to Finding Peace Within Everyday Chaos came into my life when I really needed to learn more about the gentle wisdom of opening up to what is […]
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Tag Archives: love
What to Do in Meditation When You Are Flooded with Mental Pain
2011/06/22 
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Each meditation is so different. Today, as I settled into my breath, I was immediately aware of a great deal of mental pain. The pain didn’t seem to be tied to anything in particular, but was more an existential kind of pain—just “being” felt painful. One I got mentally quiet enough to feel its full […]
Continue reading Some thoughts on talent, success, failure and compassion for ourselves
2011/03/16 6 Comments
The ego has many traps, but one of the worst is self-identification with one’s talent. If one self-identifies with one’s artistic or creative talent, this inevitably leads to suffering as the ego’s unquenchable needs and desires can never be satisfied by that talent. Indeed, the world is filled with “hungry ghosts” whose attachment to their […]
Continue reading How long will it take to bring our Narcissus off the cross?
2011/03/14 0 Comments
As I promised in my previous post, I am going to share passages from Stephen Levine’s spiritual autobiography, Turning Toward the Mystery. See: Everyone is Just Trying to Get Born Before They Die I found these passages very helpful in understanding how we identify with our pain and suffering and how letting go liberates our hearts. […]
Continue reading Everyone is Just Trying to Get Born Before They Die
2011/03/14 2 Comments
In the past year I have my life has been greatly blessed by getting to know the inspired, skillful teachings of Stephen Levine. I highly recommend his A Gradual Awakening, Healing into Life and Death, and Who Dies?—An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying, the latter two being extremely helpful and skillful treatments of […]
Continue reading Choose life! Choose love! Choose to live!
2011/02/11 9 Comments
“Most people can look back over the years and identify a time and place at which their lives changed significantly. Whether by accident or design, these are the moments when, because of a readiness within us and a collaboration with events occurring around us, we are forced to seriously reappraise ourselves and the conditions under […]
Continue reading New Year Message from Thich Nhat Hanh on Suffering
2011/01/01 5 Comments
“The New Year is a great opportunity to begin anew. Because many people look at the new year, the year to come, with hope. “I will do better next year,” you promise yourself…Of course we have made mistakes. Of course we have been not very skillful. Of course we have made ourselves suffer. Of course […]
Continue reading Metta-the Healing Power of Visualizing and Radiating Love Toward Others
2010/11/23 4 Comments
Here is a unique teaching on metta, or loving-kindness meditation, by Acharya Buddharakkhita from “Mettá: The Philosophy and Practice of Universal Love.” In this teaching, Buddharakkhita focuses specifically on how to use visualization and thought-radiation to embrace others in universal love and goodwill. This teaching presents the classic sequence of beginning with loving oneself, and […]
Continue reading Kahlil Gibran-A Tear and a Smile
2010/10/19 1 Comment
A Tear and a Smile By Khalil Gibran I would not exchange the sorrows of my heart For the joys of the multitude. And I would not have the tears that sadness makes To flow from my every part turn into laughter. I would that my life remain a tear and a smile. A tear […]
Continue reading A Buddhist prayer for the well-being and happiness of all beings
2010/09/23 7 Comments
I recently came across this beautiful metta, or loving-kindness meditation by the dhamma teacher Venerable Visuddhàcàra One could certainly call it a prayer, although in Buddhist prayer there is no appeal to a supreme being. Rather, it’s a deep and earnest aspiration and wish for happiness from one being’s heart to the hearts of all […]
Continue reading Why Loving-kindness Doesn’t Have to Be Lovey-dovey
2010/08/20 8 Comments
One of my favorite things each day is getting my daily e-mail for Tricyle Magazine. There’s always an inspiring dharma teaching or quotation from an article at the website that I almost always want to go and read. Given that this blog is all about metta practice, and since Gil Fronsdal is a teacher I’ve […]
Continue reading Prayer and Metta for all beings affected by the BP Gulf oil disaster
2010/07/14 10 Comments
Like millions of others in the United States, and around the world, I’ve been keeping a close watch on the tragic situation with the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. I don’t live in the Gulf area, but I’ve tried to help by various forms of advocacy and by getting good, solid scientific and technical information […]
Continue reading Krishnamurti on Nonviolence
2010/07/07 2 Comments
J. Krishnamurti is a spiritual teacher that I often return to and wrestle with! Here are some past posts on him: Krishnamurti-An Uncompromising Teacher Krishnamurti-Freedom from the Known Krishnamurti Talks About Nature I always come away the better for my encounters with this remarkable teacher, and I always learn new and skillful ways to look […]
Continue reading Thich Nhat Hanh-Kiss the Earth-Poem and Music
2010/06/17 2 Comments
Kiss The Earth Walk and touch peace every moment. Walk and touch happiness every moment. Each step brings a fresh breeze. Each step makes a flower bloom. Kiss the Earth with your feet. Bring the Earth your love and happiness. The Earth will be safe when we feel safe in ourselves. by Thich Nhat Hanh […]
Continue reading “I Thank You” – e.e. cummings – Poem and Music
2010/06/09 7 Comments
This my favorite e.e. cummings poem. Though it’s been a friend for over 40 years now, it still makes my heart soar, “which is natural which is infinite which is yes!” (If you are curious as to why a “Buddhst” blog would have posts with references to God in them, you might want to take […]
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 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 Breathing in Peace-Breathing out Love (music)
2010/01/15 4 Comments
With so much pain and suffering in the news, I wanted to share this guided metta meditation that I’ve used for years. It’s from the book Who is My Self: A Guide to Buddhist Meditation by Ayya Khema, a wonderfully skillful nun in the Theravada tradition. This particular guided meditation has been especially helpful in […]
Continue reading Ajahn Brahmavamso teaches Loving-kindness Meditation
2010/01/08 22 Comments
Ajahn Brahmavamso is a wonderful Theravadan monk whose wit and humor help bring the dharma alive. Because of his courageous stand on the ordination of women as Buddhist nuns, I thought it would be good to give people who are not familiar with him a feel for Ajahn Brahm’s skill as a teacher. I think […]
Continue readingThe Virtue of Friendliness
2009/12/11 7 Comments
The Virtue of Friendliness “A monk is expected to be mindful of the feelings of friendliness towards all living things. He is expected to cultivate assiduously this all embracing virtue of friendliness for the whole world, starting in the morning and continuing throughout the day. “Staying, walking or sitting, or lying down, till he falls […]
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 