Most Buddhists have always been and continue to be laypersons and householders. These verses from the Numerical Collection of discourses paint a picture of a householder who is both refuge and support for an entire family unit or of a community. Of course these days such a person might just as soon be a woman as a man, or might even be an organization or a group. In either case it is the shelter provided by faith and virtue that enables the family to flourish. Its members are protected from the … [Read more...]
War and Peace
Andrew Olendzki
As Buddhists understand things, the outer world unfolding around us is largely a reflection of inner states. Yes, there might be some “stuff” out there from which the material life support systems are woven, but the rich world of human experience is a virtual world, constructed of mental states, feelings, perceptions and various forms of intention. First the bad news: the mess we are making of our planet is caused by our own greed, hatred and delusion. Aside from the existential afflictions … [Read more...]
The Working of Boundless Compassion
Tai Unno
Taitetsu Unno is Jill Ker Conway Professor Emeritus of Religion at Smith College in Northampton, MA. He retired recently after a distinguished academic career and is an ordained priest in Shin Buddhism, which he teaches in various settings throughout the United States. He is the author of Shin Buddhism: Bits of Rubble Turn Into Gold and River of Fire, River of Water. How did you interest in Buddhism come about? I had the privilege of meeting Dr. D. T. Suzuki in San Francisco in 1951, and … [Read more...]
In This World, Hate Never Yet Dispelled Hate
Sarah Doering
Based on a talk given at the IMS Forest Refuge in Barre, MA, last winter. ‘‘Look how he abused me and beat me, How he threw me down and robbed me.” Live with such thoughts and you live in hate... Abandon such thoughts and live in love. In this world Hate never yet dispelled hate. Only love dispels hate. This is the law, Ancient and inexhaustible. (Dhammapada 3-5) Hatred, indeed, has never yet dispelled hate. Only love dispels hate. Hatred just leads to revenge, and revenge … [Read more...]
Generating Spiritual Friendship: Reflections from a Gray Haired Mentor
Jean Esther
Jean Esther has been practicing the Theravada tradition for the past 22 years. She is a psychotherapist in private practice in Northampton, MA and occasionally teaches meditation classes in the surrounding area. At the suggestion of my hairdresser about two years ago, I decided to let my hair grow naturally: goodbye permanent brown, hello natural gray! Other than enjoying the occasional positive comment, I truthfully didn’t think any more about it. Then one day across our lunch table in … [Read more...]
Lessons from an Illness
Marilyn Judson
Marilyn Judson has studied vipassanā meditation with Shinzen Young for the past nine years, and with Thich Nhat Hanh for five years before that. She has a daily sitting meditation practice, meets weekly with her sangha for dharma and discussion and sitting practice, and attends several vipassanā retreats each year. I was lying in my hospital room and starting to feel desperate and afraid. I had a suction tube down my throat, an I.V. in my arm, and I hadn’t eaten in three days. Twenty-four … [Read more...]
What Is Mindfulness… And Why Is It Important to Therapists?
Christopher K. Germer
This article is excerpted from the first chapter of a new book, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy. A collective effort of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy, the book is edited by Christopher K. Germer, Ronald D. Siegel and Paul R. Fulton, and will be published by Guilford Press in the spring of 2005. Psychotherapists are in the business of alleviating emotional suffering. Suffering arrives in innumerable guises: stress, anxiety, depression, behavior problems, interpersonal conflict, … [Read more...]
A Comprehensive Matrix of Constructed Experience
Andrew Olendzki
These are the building blocks with which we construct our world. Every action which creates karma is represented on this chart. It is meant as an exhaustive categorization of all conditioned human experience. Try examining each of these options, one at a time, and look for examples of such activity in your own life and practice. You will find that such a matrix of experience provides a generic and de-personalized way of looking at what is taking place moment by moment, which supports the … [Read more...]
