How to find freedom, contentment and genuine, lasting wellbeing? How to put wisdom and compassion into action in our daily life, contributing to kind communities in today’s global society?
Drawing from the teachings of the rich Buddhist tradition and personal experience, you can find here articles written by members of our community from all over the world, offering contemplations and practices to apply directly on our own path in life and interconnected global society.
What does it mean to practice the discipline of meditation, when your kids or your co-workers are driving you nuts? When you keep making mistakes? If you can’t get away to a cave, how can you face your demons?
How important is it to get free of the Asian baggage we may have picked up along with our meditation practice? How can we tell if we’re clinging to the familiar for its own sake, or if we’re revering the truth? How do we evolve a Buddhism that works for Westerners without creating new obstacles for ourselves?
Are we in touch with our rebel spirit, always questioning and testing? Can we take our “no fear” approach too far? Or, by rigidly holding to the “right” rules and rituals, are we actually losing spiritual ground and just shoring up the ego? Is it possible to cut ourselves off from our own clarity and wisdom, all the while thinking we’re playing it safe?
Why do we feel especially triggered by family relationships? How can we transform challenging moments with our family and use those triggers effectively on our path?
From my perspective, family life and relationship are among the most obvious and paradoxical of paths on which to practice the dharma. Nowhere are we more triggered nor more loving. In one moment, something our partner / child / parent does fills us with joy, and then suddenly, in the next moment, something they say hits us just the wrong way and we’re ready to live a life of solitude!
What does it really mean to be a Buddhist? How can we take what we learn by studying the teachings of the Buddha, and what we experience in our meditation practice.
In his earliest teachings, the Buddha taught that the “wheel of action” begins with sweeping the shrine room floor, with mindfulness and awareness, of course.
