This article first appeared in Shambhala Sun, January 2005 under the title "Breaking the Habit Habit". Everyone knows the old adage "You can't see the forest for the trees." In the work environment, the trees are the immediate pressures you feel: demands and directives from above, needs and problems from below. The forest is the bigger picture, the … [Read more...] about How to Stay Balanced and Productive
Writings
Six Ways Not to Approach Meditation
The Six Realms of Existence comprise a principal feature of Tibetan Buddhist cosmology. The possibilities of existence are classified into six forms of existence: hell beings dominated by anger ghosts and demons dominated by greed animals dominated by dullness humans dominated by desire titans dominated by envy, and gods dominated by pride Like … [Read more...] about Six Ways Not to Approach Meditation
Compassion, Culture, and Belief
From 1987 to 1989, I served as the Buddhist representative on the AIDS Interfaith Council in Los Angeles. At one meeting I was struck by the way a Christian Fundamentalist minister from a conservative county in California talked to her more liberal Episcopalian and Jewish colleagues. "Don’t try to teach our people about your beliefs in gay rights … [Read more...] about Compassion, Culture, and Belief
Buddha Nature: Living in Attention
Discomfort is the stimulus for creativity. Or, as Joseph Goldstein says, "We move only when we are uncomfortable." The first noble truth, "There is suffering," implies that there should be a lot of creativity in the world. This creativity can be one of two types. The first is an active reaction to suffering, seeking to avoid it in the most … [Read more...] about Buddha Nature: Living in Attention
Buddha Nature: The mystery of silence
After the awareness that there is nothing other than mindComes the understanding that mind, too, is nothing itself.The intelligent know that these two understandings are not things.And then, not holding onto even this knowledge, they come to rest in the realm of totality. I can't get away from it. Like it or not, there is this quality in me which … [Read more...] about Buddha Nature: The mystery of silence
Attention in Speech
"Then you should say what you mean," the March Hare went on. "I do," Alice hastily replied; "at least -- I mean what I say -- that's the same thing, you know." "Not the same thing a bit!" said the Hatter. "Why, you might just as well say that 'I see what I eat' is the same thing as 'I eat what I see'!" "You might just as well say," added the March … [Read more...] about Attention in Speech