How often have you heard, “We all worship the same god”? Although many would like to believe it, we know it’s not true.
Category: Religion
Born to Be Good
…we are all born with the loving kindness (compassion) and wisdom of the Buddha, but we don’t know it
Even These Things May Seem Pleasant — November 1, 2015, Sermon
I can tell you that each one of those traumas was a great teacher, but I can’t find one pleasant thing about any of them…
A Contrarian View of Suicide
I was severely depressed and decided that my depression would help me understand and show compassion for others. So I volunteered to answer the phones at the Northern Virginia Hotline.
Evil
During a four-day Thanksgiving Weekend retreat at the Bhavana Society a dozen years ago, I was listening to the society’s founder and abbot, Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, give a dharma talk. A Sri Lankan monk from the age of 12, Bhante G came to the United States in 1968, when he was 40. He earned a bachelor’s, a…
Acceptance
My own experience tells me that, with a few very rare exceptions, we are born with the intention to do good in the world…
Noise
With all due respect for the wisdom of the monastics, I wonder why they seek such total silence for meditation.
Spooky Stuff
It’s comforting and predictable to believe in spooky stuff after the death of a loved one, but that doesn’t mean the spooky stuff didn’t happen and didn’t mean what it seemed to mean.
The Sabbath
…experiencing the world as it is can be emotionally draining work. As poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti said many years ago, “even in heaven they don’t sing all the time.”
On Wearing Malas
I’m as eclectic and contrarian about Buddhism as I am about Western religions. I’d like to say that I come from a long line of eclectic contrarians, but thanks to the Holocaust I’ll never know much about my ancestors’ personalities. My meditation practice is primarily what you might call Zen light, or mindfulness, or insight/vipassana,…
Anti-Racism Part 2
We’re stuck in Christian original sin, according to Thandeka, and groping for Salvation. But confessing our supposed sins will not get us anywhere helpful.
Music
…music is far more than a delivery mechanism for words of comfort. I believe that good music can cut through what Buddhists call the “monkey mind” — the chattering that distracts us from what is in the here and now.
Melting-Pot Dharma 