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. […]
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Tag Archives: redemption
Veterans Day-The Wounds of Combat Can Be Healed
2010/11/11 
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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 […]
Continue reading Buddhism’s Practical Answer to the Problem of Evil – Part 1
2010/01/20 5 Comments
This is a first in a two-part discussion of the problem of evil in light of Buddhist teachings. Of course, what I say here are my own views on this complex subject, but these views are shaped and informed by what I’ve learned for myself in my study of the Buddha’s teachings on good and […]
Continue reading Martin Luther King-He Still Calls Our Hearts to Act
2010/01/18 4 Comments
Martin Luther King was a hero of mine long before I became a Buddhist. His assassination in 1968 was one of those seminal moments that caused me to dedicate myself with greater effort to the ideas of equality and justice that exemplified Dr. King’s life. Later in my life, when I came to Buddhism through […]
Continue reading Buddhism and Forgiveness: What Brit Hume forgot to tell Tiger Woods
2010/01/11 10 Comments
By now, many Buddhists and people interested in Buddhism have probably heard the remarks of Brit Hume of Fox News about Tiger Woods: “He [Woods] is said to be a Buddhist. I don’t think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. My message to Tiger would […]
Continue reading When a Child Feels that She is Seen as “Real”
2010/01/10 0 Comments
In a previous post, Sarah Brach and Radical Acceptance I highlighted the wonderful book Radical Acceptance, by meditation teacher and clinical psychologist Tara Brach. In this post, I’m sharing a short passage from the book that never fails to move me deeply. It speaks both to parents and to any of who were children […]
Continue readingBrave Hearts-Ajahn Brahmavamso Ordains Women Monks
2010/01/07 6 Comments
From time to time, I’m going to highlight some individual or group that shows remarkable courage in the face of adversity or in standing up against injustice. I call them brave hearts. Today I want to call attention to the courage of Ajahn Brahmavamso, or Ajahn Brahm (as he is affectionately known) for taking the […]
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 Buddha and Christ-Let the Child be Born to Us
2009/12/24 1 Comment
Every year in Plum Village, France, my heart teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, celebrates Christmas with his sangha, the community of students and practitioners there. Usually, he gives a talk about Jesus and about his meaning to us today, whether we are Christians or Buddhists or any other faith or non-faith. Now, it may seem strange […]
Continue reading The Ten Ox-herding Images of Zen
2009/12/20 3 Comments
I thought I’d do something different and fun in this post, and take a look at probably the most beloved images in Zen Buddhism. Known as The Ten Ox-herding Pictures, they have been the source of endless commentary and inspiration in Zen since at least the 12th century. From the first time I saw them, […]
Continue readingMetta-care: saving our coral reefs
2009/12/10 3 Comments
Our oceans are in big trouble. Not only are they increasingly polluted with chemicals and dangerous trash, such as plastics, their very nature is being changed by increasing CO2 levels and warming of the water. Few places are more sensitive to this increase in water temperature and decrease in pH (popularly called ocean acidification) than […]
Continue readingThe Compassion of the Swans
2009/12/08 11 Comments
I’m a big animal lover and have been as long as I can remember, but I always seem to have had a special connection with birds. Even when I was a youngster, I was always finding wounded birds that I would bring home and nurse back to health. I’ve rescued sparrows, starlings, pigeons, and wild […]
Continue reading Metta Music-By Way of Sorrow-a song for Thanksgiving
2009/11/25 0 Comments
I offer this song to all those alone this Thanksgiving, without family and friends—or maybe even without hope. Don’t give up! There is a way home. There is a way to love’s table. The first step may be hope and trust in our own innate capacity to change, to grow, to evolve, to heal, to […]
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 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 