The adults in the Zen commune I grew up in for a time may have been nutty, but they were brilliant in their approaches to teaching the children of the commune about meditation. There was nothing systematic or planned about how kids got lessons in mindfulness. Yet, all of us commune kids by the age of seven could meditate for a half hour, knew Japanese chants, zendo etiquette, and could do a full form from tai chi chuan—and even saw all of it as fun, as a game. I have organized these informal … [Read more...]
Crossing the Rohini (Therāgāthā 527-9)
Andrew Olendzki
These verses are said to have been uttered by Udāyin (nick-named Kāla Udayin or “Dark Udāyin“). He was the son of king Suddhodhana’ chief minister, and is said to have been the childood companion of prince Siddhartha. Soon after Gotama’s awakening, the king sent several messengers to ask his son to return home. Each one, upon hearing the Buddha's teaching, apparently joined his movement and gave up the king’s mission. Finally Suddhodhana sends Kaludayin, who agrees on condition that he can … [Read more...]
The Non-Pursuit of Happiness
Andrew Olendzki
There are two fundamentally different approaches to the attainment of happiness. One is so deeply embedded in our civilization almost everything in our culture supports it; the other is a radically different view offered by the Buddha twenty five centuries ago. Which approach is likely to contribute most to our own happiness? My bets are on the Buddha. We should begin by offering a rudimentary definition of happiness, for which we might fruitfully turn to modern systems theory. Every … [Read more...]
Sharing What You Love
Trudy Goodman
Trudy Goodman lives and teaches in Los Angeles, and is a member of the Boston-based Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapist (IMP). She has been practicing Dharma for many years, in both the Zen and Vipassanā traditions. Trudy, in addition to being a long-time dharma practitioner and teacher, you are also a trained psychotherapist. What do you think of the recent confluence of these two traditions? I’m interested in the ways these two different traditions are already enriching one … [Read more...]
Fear, Pain …and Trust
Joseph Goldstein
This article has been excerpted from a course Joseph taught at the study center on September 6, 2003. Meditation practice is a path of opening. To begin with, it opens us to a deeper awareness of our bodies. Usually, we have a sense of our bodies being something quite solid and fixed. But as we develop stronger mindfulness, we experience the sensations in the body as a fluid energy field. The solidity begins to dissolve, which itself becomes a healing process. We also open our sense doors. … [Read more...]
The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness
Andrew Olendzki
Most practitioners of insight meditation are familiar with the four foundations of mindfulness, and know that the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (M 10; D 22), the Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness is the cornerstone of the vipassanā [insight meditation] tradition. The first foundation, mindfulness of the body, has to do with bringing awareness, attention, or focus to breathing and to bodily sensations. The second foundation of mindfulness, mindfulness of feeling, involves noticing the affect … [Read more...]
All About Change
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Change is the focal point for Buddhist insight—a fact so well known that it has spawned a familiar sound bite: “Isn’t change what Buddhism is all about?” What’s less well known is that this focus has a frame, that change is neither where insight begins nor where it ends. Insight begins with a question that evaluates change in light of the desire for true happiness. It ends with a happiness that lies beyond change. When this frame is forgotten, people create their own contexts for the teaching … [Read more...]
