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" To find a buddha, you have to see your nature. Whoever sees his nature is a buddha. If you don't see your nature, invoking buddhas, reciting sutras, making offerings and keeping precepts are all useless." ~Bodhidharma Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma

Under the bewitching power of ignorance we always tend to look here rather than there or the same, focus on the wrong things. Our ignorance is often lead by our habits: habits we believe to be authoritative when in fact they are assumptions which often have no real basis. We don't want to admit it, but most of us are terribly ignorant about almost everything. The fact is, we cannot study everything so as to become consummate experts. We cannot be all at once an expert carpenter, automobile mechanic, physician, economist, and educator. Often, we have to rely on experts. But then how do we know our experts are all that reliable? We really don't. We just assume they are experts and leave it at that. In all of this, what we don't want to recognize is our own laziness when it comes to getting ourselves out of the morass of our self-imposed ignorance. We would rather argue fallaciously the rest of our lives, defending our turf of ignorance, than change our nescient opinions. It

By Mary Jaksch Mindfulness meditation is a simple and effective way to meditate. Whether you want to become calmer, be more present, or simply become grounded, mindfulness meditation will help you. How long should you meditate for? If this is your first experience of meditation, just meditate for short periods of time, maybe 5 to 10 minutes. As you get more experienced, you can lengthen the time you spend meditating to 25 or 30 minutes. Here are seven simple tips that will enhance your experience: #1 Sit upright Upright posture helps the mind to come to rest. You can either sit on the ground with a firm cushion to elevate your back side, or sit on a straight-backed chair. The main thing is to keep your spine upright but relaxed. Its much easier to keep your mind focused if youre upright. #2 Pay tender regard to your body Its helpful to connect with your body in order to settle into meditation. Start at your feet and slowly scan the body with your mind. What do your feet feel like? Wha

We woke up this morning to another pile of snow here in Minnesota. Winter has officially gotten old. Meanwhile, in the neighboring state of Wisconsin, protests against Governor Walker's anti-union, anti-worker budget plans have made it a week so far. I have been to Madison many times. I have even lobbied in the state capital building, back when I was an undergraduate college student. So, seeing all of this happening is totally exciting, no matter the outcome. Amongst the protesters have been a couple of yoga teachers, seen above striking a pose. It should not be ignored, given what's been going on all over the Middle East, that one of the first things Governor Walker did was threaten to bring on the National Guard. Apparently bringing in the military isn't just the favored option of dictators. Meanwhile, complaints about teachers shutting down schools, and bringing their Cadillac Health Plans pile up from both right wing pundits, and average citizens whose diets have too

With palms together, Good Morning Everyone, I have been reading a wonderfully challenging text entitled Zen Radicals, Rebels and Reformers. It is giving me pause, much like I had one day back in the early 90s when I saw myself in a three piece suit in the mirror and decided then and there to take it off. What is Zen really about? And what are authentic Zen teachers? If you see a Zen teacher behaving himself, I would be careful. If you see a Zen teacher going with the flow, e-gads, something is amiss. The fact is, true Zen Teachers are an historically against the stream bunch. You think all those seemingly flippant remarks by Zen Masters of old were just cute? Not. They were authentically irreverent, disrespectful, challenging, and decidedly not conventional. They occurred in real time in real society and were intended to wake up the sheep sleeping in front of them. For Zen, there should be no such thing as mainstream. There are, however, those pesky precepts, those forms, and those cer

" If you don't find a teacher soon, you'll live this life in vain. it's true, you have the buddha-nature. but without the help of a teacher you'll never know it. Only one person in a million becomes enlightened without a teacher's help." ~Bodhidharma Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma

Secular Buddhists are generally comfortable with the term "agnostic", a term coined by Thomas Huxley (18251895). The agnostic takes pride in know nothingness , or the same, that we cannot know. Agnosticism, in this respect, is just another word for skepticism which, itself, is still another word for nihilism. Judging from what I have seen of so-called secular Buddhism, philosophically speaking, it is veiled nihilisma happy or spiritual nihilism you might even say. There is no rebirth or reincarnation. This is our last life and when we're dead, were quite dead. Describing my deeper sense of this benighted phenomenon, I have to look back to Nietzsche who prophesied the coming of nihilism for the West. He turned out to be right as prophets go, seeing nihilism's dark clouds encircling the globe, blocking out the sun of spirit and wisdom to such an extent that it is acceptable to deny the very spirit that animates us. When a secular Buddhist writer equates Buddhism with ag

No matter how talented or smart you are, if you cant communicate effectively with others it will be difficult to get a job, retain clients, and have productive relationships. It's a delicate process. Communication can be a hectic two-way street with messages coming and going between sender and receiver. If you aren't paying attention, you'll miss a queue and in turn, send a response that isn't ideal. Listen, some people are born with that 'gift'. They can pick up on something and jump into any conversation whenever they want. Most people aren't built that way. Let's dive in and look at a few ways to improve. The goal is not to be the Anthony Robbins of your office, but perhaps with some work, you can take your game up a notch. Heres how to make professional connections. Focus on first impressions and non-verbal behavior Communication is both verbal and nonverbal. We dont only send messages with words, but also with our behavior, expressions, and to

" A sagacious student does not depend on his teacher's words, but uses his own experience to find the truth. A dull student depends on coming to a gradual understanding through his teacher's word: a teacher has two kinds of students; one hears the teacher's words without clinging to the material nor to the immaterial, without attaching to form or to nonform, Without thinking of animate objects or of inanimate objects... This is the Sagacious student; the other, who is avid for understanding, accumulates meanings, and mixes good and bad, is the dull student." ~Bodhidharma Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma

Buddhists should never equate self or atman with the modern Western concept of ego. The two are unrelated. Ego aims towards the psychological atman , used in religious texts, is always spiritual and transcendent. Here are some examples of how ego is used in the West: reason and circumspection (Freud); a center for selfishness (popular speech); something to strengthen (ego psychology); something to get rid of (cultism); the organizing center of wholeness (Blanck and Blanck); the fundamental cause of fragmentation (neognostic psychology); the small self as opposed to the higher self (Jung). If there is an ego in Buddhism it is the satkaya , or more precisely, satkya-drsti (P., sakkaya-ditthi ). This is the belief or view ( drsti ) that my self or atman is the Five Aggregates or the same, the psychophysical organism ( satkaya ). Of each aggregate one firmly believes, etam mama, eso ham asmi, eso me att (this is mine, I am this, this is my self). Under this light, the Buddha taught aga

With palms together, Good Morning Everyone, Sunday morning and we will sit Zazen at the Temple this morning at nine. Practicing together is a good thing. I hope to see you there. Lately, we have been doing a variety of things away from the temple. I have been elected to the Board of Peace Village here in Las Cruces and was invited to speak at a meeting of the Border Servant Corps. I am also involved with the programs and curriculum committee of Peace Camp. We are looking at initiatives in the community to promote non-violence and peace. I will be looking into going back into J. Paul Taylor Youth Correctional Facility to offer meditation classes. We are also looking at doing a series of mini-peace camps in local neighborhoods. I will likely be involved in teaching meditation at these. We have one scheduled in Anthony, NM on the 30th of April. If any of our local members would like to assist in these projects, please reply to me. There is a DVD available at Temple showing the activities

This newest series of essays written by American Buddhist women, by Karma Lekshe Tsomo is one of a number of such volumes introducing and promoting womens roles in the current formation of Buddhism in America and worldwide. Other important volumes include Sandy Bouchers Turning the Wheel: American Women Creating the New Buddhism , Lenore Friedmans Meetings with Remarkable Women: Buddhist Teachers in America , Ellen Sidors A Gathering of Spirit: Women Teaching in American Buddhism , and Karma Lekshe Tsomos Sakyadhita: Daughters of the Buddha . These books all have similar aims to highlight female teachers in America and show the feminization of Buddhism in America. This list of volumes, however, are mostly from the 1980s and 1990s. With this new book , Karma Lekshe Tsomo introduces us to new teachers and teachings among Buddhist women in America. This volume in particular aims to give women a chance to express themselves on the Dharma and their experiences of adapting and implementing t

By Mary Jaksch Compassion has a bad rap. Well, maybe not bad, but at least squishy. Its equated with weakness, with saccharine spirituality, with turning the other cheek instead of fighting back, with heroic self-sacrifice too good to be true, with feel-good stories stuck right at the end of news casts. But what if we thought about compassion in a new way? In the video below, journalist Krista Tippett deconstructs the meaning of compassion through several moving stories, and proposes a new, more attainable definition for the word. (If you cant see the video, go here to watch it. ) What do you think about this? Please share in the comments. If you enjoy this post, please share it on Twitter and Facebook. Id appreciate it Please click below to get free GLZ updates delivered to your inbox (PLUS receive my FREE eBook, Overcome Anything ) Click here to Download your FREE eBook Overcome Everything Can Compassion Become the New Civic Virtue?

There has been some stir up online about a bill currently being considered in the Arizona state legislature. Members of the American Muslim and Buddhist communities have pointed out the religious bigotry behind the bill, but there is even more behind lurking behind the words of this bill. The 2010 Arizona Foreign Decisions Act has been reintroduced in 2011 as HB 2582. Among other (statutory) provisions: * Declares the acceptance of Arizona into the Union was a compact. * Declares Congress has no authority to preempt state regulation of state courts. * Prohibits courts from implementing, referring or incorporating or using a tenet of any body of religious sectarian law and specifically includes sharia law, canon law, halacha and karma. * Exempts from the above prohibitions decisions based on Anglo-American legal tradition, laws or case law from Great Britain prior enactment of the statute, or the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, and the principle

" This one life has no form and is empty by nature. If you become attached to any form, you should reject it. If you see an ego, a soul, a birth or a death, reject them all." ~Bodhidharma Technorati Tags: Buddha Buddhist Buddhism Meditation Dharma

Post written by Leo Babauta . When I decided to change my life a little over 5 years ago, I had a very common problem: I didnt have the time. I wanted to exercise and find time for my family and eat healthier (instead of the fast-food junk Id been eating) and read more and write and be more productive and increase my income. Unfortunately there are only 24 hours in a day, and we sleep for about 8 of them. Subtract the hours we spend eating (3), showering and dressing (1), cleaning and running errands (1), driving (2), working (8) and youre left with an hour or two at most. Often less. Eventually I figured out how to do all of that. Ive achieved all of that and more, and in fact I have more leisure time now than ever. But first I had to figure out the fundamental problem: how could I find the time to change my life? I know many of you face the same problem youve told me as much. So I thought Id share some of what I did in the beginning, in hopes that itll help. The First Step You mus