Modern culture would have us worship before the altar of the thinking mind, with its endless capacity to produce ideas, fantasies, and formulas. We are taught that the thinking mind is the possessor of all wisdom, and we dedicate much of our lives to the pursuit of knowledge and information. Seeing...
One day Mara, the Buddhist god of ignorance and evil, was traveling through the villages of India with his attendants. He saw a man doing walking meditation whose face was lit up in wonder. The man had just discovered something on the ground in front of him. Mara's attendants asked what that was and...
Having an initial good look round is a good idea but pick'n'mix isn't Buddhist training:If we do a little of one kind of practice and a little of another, the work we have done in one often doesn't continue to build as we change to the next. It is as if we were to dig many shallow wells instead of...
Instead of trips to Turkey in December and Bali in the Spring, I'm going to Esalen for two retreats in the next 6 months. Does that make me a hippie? Also, right now I'm reading Jack Kornfield's newest book called The Wise Heart. It's good. I'm looking forward to seeing him at Spirit Rock in...
