How Metta Can Help You When Meditation is Hindered by Overwhelming Feelings

When I woke up this morning, I found my that my breath “anchor” came to mind within just a minute or two, with no conscious impulse to do so. This progress feels like a carryover of last night’s sitting meditation, right before I went to bed, which itself, seemed to be quite a lot of […]

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Ken Mcleod on how to use Thich Nhat Hanh’s Five-Step Method of Emotional Releasing

One of the most skillful Buddhist teachers I know of and someone whose skillful teachings have brought immense healing into my life is Ken McLeod.  I can’t recommend enough his book: Wake up to your Life: Discovering the Buddhist Path of Attention or  his wonderful Unfettered Mind website: http://www.unfetteredmind.org/ which has dozens and dozens of […]

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Take Time to Be Present Before You Rush Off to Do

Take time to be present before you rush off to do. One of the skillful Zen koans is “What is this? ” It doesn’t mean looking at something and saying, “That’s a chair. ” It doesn’t mean identifying where you are, i.e, “What is this? This is my front room. This is a mountain trail, […]

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How to Get Started with Sitting Meditation

Because it was free and available online, Buddha Smile by Roberto Vicente, was one of the earliest dharma books I read when I first began investigating Buddhism.  I feel very fortunate that I read his book during my initial discovery period, because the author conveys such a wonderful, joyous sense of the Buddha’s teaching and […]

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The Importance of Alertness and Attention in Developing Concentration

As I have grown in my meditation practice, I have been able to develop deeper and deeper levels of concentration and corresponding insight. And yet, when I’ve read about some of the various deeper levels of jhana (deep concentration, or samatha) I’ve sometimes wondered about my progress and whether I’m going “deep” enough. This great […]

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Pema Chodron – Renunciation as saying “yes!” to life

Trungpa Rinpoche once said, “Renunciation is realizing that nostalgia for samsara is full of shit.” Renunciation is realizing that our nostalgia for wanting to stay in a protected, limited petty world is insane. One you begin to get the feeling of how big the world is and how vast our potential for realizing life is, […]

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The Dhamma Brothers-A Film to Inspire Your Meditation Practice

Last night my wife and I watched on of the most moving documentaries we have seen in a long time. It’s called The Dhamma Brothers, and I can’t recommend it enough. Brief Synopsis (from website) An overcrowded, violent maximum-security prison, the end of the line in Alabama’s prison system, is dramatically changed by the influence […]

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Why it’s Important to Know What Mindfulness Is and Is Not

Mindfulness Defined by Thanissaro Bhikkhu What does it mean to be mindful of the breath? Something very simple: to keep the breath in mind. Keep remembering the breath each time you breathe in, each time you breathe out. The British scholar who coined the term “mindfulness” to translate the Pali word sati was probably influenced […]

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Quiet in Every Way – Breaking the Mind’s Chatter

I just finished a 14-day intensive meditation/metta retreat at home, which is why I haven’t posted for a while.  Looking back at the 2 weeks work, I couldn’t help but think of this article by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. One of the things that became so evident to me, day after day “on the cushion” or in […]

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Are things bothering you or are you bothering things?

Here are some great insights from Thai Forest teacher Ajahn Chah about how to deal skillfully with distractions in our meditation and in our lives. Learning Concentration Ajahn Chah “In our practice, we think that noises, cars, voices, sights are distractions that come and bother us when we want to be quiet. But who is […]

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Using Meditation to Get Acquainted with Pain-Are You Serious?

Everybody has to deal with pain. It’s one of the biggest problems we face as human beings. If we are dealing with chronic or acute disease, pain can literally fill our world. Over time, chronic pain can feeling like we are being ground down by a mountain. And one of the worst aspects of chronic […]

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Moral Self-Protection Grounded in Meditation

Once the Buddha told his monks the following story: There was once a pair of jugglers who performed their acrobatic feats on a bamboo pole. One day the master said to his apprentice: “Now get on my shoulders and climb up the bamboo pole.” When the apprentice had done so, the master said: “Now protect […]

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Thich Nhat Hanh-Kiss the Earth-Poem and Music

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 […]

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Kabir – “Breath” – Poem and Music

Breath by Kabir Are you looking for me? I am in the next seat. My shoulder is against yours. You will not find me in stupas, not in Indian shrine rooms, nor in synagogues, nor in cathedrals: not in masses, nor in kirtans, not in legs winding around your own neck, nor in eating nothing […]

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Inviting the Bell to Sound-Invitation to Mindfulness

One of the wonderful skills I have learned from Thich Nhat Hanh is how to use a bell, or ringing bowl, as an aid to coming back to myself and achieving mindfulness. I almost always start and end my meditations by “inviting” the bell to sound. Here is a very beautiful teaching by Thây on […]

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Thich Nhat Hanh-The Five Mindfulness Trainings

I still remember vividly taking the Five Mindful Trainings vow in 2002 from Thich Nhat Hanh at Stonehill College in Massachusetts. By now, the Trainings are written in my heart, but I still look at them once a week, renewing my vow and sending to Thây, his monks and nuns, and his students, any merit […]

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The Power of the Smile in Our Meditation and Lives

At my first retreat with my heart teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, I was struck by how many times Thây talked about smiling and its importance to the practice he was teaching. Of course, it was so wonderful to be in the presence of this living Bodhisattva, and his loving, compassionate monks, it was hard not […]

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Hugging Meditation-A Gift to Children from Thich Nhat Hahn

This post is for the children in our lives. It’s from Present Moment, Wonderful Moment: Mindfulness Verses for Daily Living by Thich Nhat Hanh. The verses in this book, called gathas, can be a wonderful, skillful means for bringing mindfulness to our daily lives, our activities, and our relationships with others. The gatha below is […]

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Four Steps to Better Meditation Practice

If you are learning to meditate, this is a terrific “short course” in the basics of mindfulness. If you’re an experienced meditator, this dharma talk by Ajahn Chah is a great refresher. (This is a revision of an earlier post called “How Confident Are You About Your Meditation Practice?”) This excerpt come from “The Teachings […]

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Bathing in the Breath to Heal Body and Mind

In a previous post, I shared a teaching from Thich Nhat Hanh titled “Healing the Body with Mindfulness of Breathing.” This post has proven helpful and inspiring to many people, so I wanted to share something from Thây’s Theravadan brother-in-the-dharma, Thanissaro Bhikkhu. (Thây, by the way, is Thich Nhat Hanh’s students’ affectionate name for him) […]

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