Rodney Smith lives in Seattle, Washington, where he has been running a hospice. He has also set up hospices in Texas and Massachusetts and teaches workshops nationwide on working with death and the dying. He has been offering vipassanā retreats at IMS for many years, and has recently completed a book called Lessons from the Dying, to be published by Wisdom Publications. You were on staff at IMS in the very early years, weren't you? What was it like in those days? When I first came on … [Read more...]
Flying in the Face of Death
Gavin Harrison
I must confess that wherever I am, a large part of my heart always lies in Africa where I was born. Among the tribes in Africa, there is a tradition that I would like to retell: Soon after her wedding, the young newlywed wife leaves the hustle and bustle of the village and goes out to a quiet place in the surrounding veld. Perhaps she finds a tree under which she sits, or a river beside which she places herself. And there, she listens. She listens for the song of her child that has yet to … [Read more...]
Dharma on the Front Lines: Finding a Path
Paula Green
From a weekend workshop on Engaged Buddhism held at BCBS on ]une 1, 1997 Finding a Path My path to the field of social change began early and has progressed steadily over time. In early years I completed a masters degree in social justice and human rights, working in New York in the anti-war and civil rights movements, having my first taste of intercommunal relations that would later become my life work. After some years, I became aware of my very limited and incomplete understanding. I … [Read more...]
A Fourth Turning of the Wheel? Ambedkar Buddhism
Christopher Queen
From a talk given at BCBS on July 3, 1997 One way of looking at the coming of Buddhism to the West, and the beginnings of the true interpenetration of these profound world views, is to see it as a fourth yana [vehicle]. If we look at "Buddhism" as a tradition and we use that term in the singular, we're really covering a multitude of practices and beliefs. To focus on the kinds of beliefs and practices that people like ourselves are attempting in the name of Buddhism raises fundamental … [Read more...]
Practicing the Middle Way: Devadaha Sutta
Andrew Olendzki
On one occasion, when he was visiting his homeland among the Sakya clans, the Buddha is said to have given a significant discourse on the nature of exertion and striving. The context of the discussion was his criticism of the Jain ascetic practices, so common in ancient India, but his remarks on the subject are of immense importance to the contemporary practice of insight meditation. And how is exertion fruitful, bhikkhus, how is striving fruitful? Here, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu is not … [Read more...]
Working With Fear
Michael Liebenson Grady
This is a summary of some of the meditation practices and issues covered in an eight- week practice group led by Michael Liebenson Grady at the CIMC in the winter of 1997. We can have a very committed spiritual practice, doing all the "right" things—sitting every day, getting in our annual retreats, reading and listening to Dharma, and even having moments of deep concentration and clarity of mind. And yet, at the same time, we can be living our lives actively avoiding our fears and keeping … [Read more...]
Irresistible Force (Saṃyutta Nikāya 3.3.5)
Andrew Olendzki
This verse emerges from a discussion between the Buddha and the Kosala king Pasenadi, who generally feels secure behind his four-fold army (elephant, chariot, cavalry and infantry divisions), his conjurers and his treasury. The Buddha asks him to imagine a situation–the fantastic closing-in of four mountain ranges—where all his royal resources will not help him meet the foe. Such is the situation in which we actually all find ourselves—rich or poor, aristocrat or laborer—though we … [Read more...]