The Liberation Teachings of Mindfulness in the Land of the Free Jake Davis grew up just a few miles from IMS. He first became involved in insight meditation through the young adults ’ retreat there. He went on to spend more than a year as a Theravada monk in Burma, learning the language, studying texts and practicing meditation. The Dhamma Dana Publications project, hosted by BCBS, is in the process of publishing Jake's book Strong Roots for free distribution, with the ongoing support of … [Read more...]
Sharing What You Love
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...]
What Is Mindfulness… And Why Is It Important to Therapists?
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...]
An Organic Spirituality
We are accustomed in the West to think of spiritual matters as having to do with placing ourselves in relationship with something greater than ourselves, something “other,” and something “out there.” At best it is something beautiful, wise, and willing to love us dearly. At worst it is powerful, fearful, and capable of judging us harshly. Some come to know of it through texts of revelation, the teaching of prophets, or the edifices of tradition built upon these foundations. Others intuit it in … [Read more...]
The BCBS Model Goes to India
When I first turned onto Lockwood Road in Barre, Massachusetts, I had never seen Buddhism in the West. My time had been spent in Asia, predominantly India, practicing in monasteries filled with local people who did not look or act like me. At the time, I thought this was all that existed. Ignorant of the breadth of Dharma in the West, I belatedly realized I had missed its thirty years of fringe existence with little financial support. Even so, I hesitated to trust Western Buddhism. Much of my … [Read more...]
The Pilgrims’ Experience
This story combines recollections from several people on the 2010 BCBS pilgrimage. Contributing were Helen Rosen, Steve McKay, Jim Dailey, Justin Kelley, Victor Bradford, Jeane van Gemert, Mu Soeng, Indira Maini, Edith Haenel, Kristy Arbon, Catherine Brousseau, Emily Carpenter, Amita Chopra and Jaylene Summers. In February 2010, twenty BCBS pilgrims set out to see Siddhartha’s stomping grounds, to walk and sit where he did 2,500 years ago. We found them in twenty-first century India, an … [Read more...]
The Lonely Forest Dweller
These lovely verses are attributed to Tissa Kumāra, the youngest brother of King Ashoka, and if this is true it demonstrates how some of the poetry of the Theragāthā entered into the Pali Canon relatively late—at the time of the Third Council (c. 250 B.C.E.). Prince Tissa was made Vice Regent when Ashoka was first consecrated King. But within only a few years, inspired by the example of a forest-dwelling monk he encountered while hunting, he renounced worldly life to live as a simple Buddhist … [Read more...]
A Radiance of Nuns
The moon, full, pauses In coconut tree branches Crickets sing their bliss. This account of the ordination of nuns in Sri Lanka comes from a private letter sent by one of the participants to her family and friends. She has consented to our printing excerpts from that letter. Some names have been deleted to protect privacy. Greetings from Sri Lanka! I write to you now no longer as a novice (Sāmaṇerī)—but as a fully ordained Theravāda Bhikkhunī nun! My new name is Charlotte Sudhammā … [Read more...]
The Rock Inscriptions of King Ashoka
King Ashoka was a remarkable leader, by any standard. He inherited from his father and grandfather an immense kingdom, encompasing most of present-day India and Pakistan, which he ruled for more than forty years from 274 to 232 B.C.E. Converting to Buddhism early in his reign, he worked tirelessly to uplift and civilize his world through the influence of Dhamma—the teaching of the Buddha. He had numerous inscriptions carved on stones and pillars set up in all reaches of his empire, but … [Read more...]
Theravada in the West
The multifaceted challenges of contemporary Buddhism were explored during an historic weekend conference—to our knowledge, the first of its kind—held last June at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. Twelve leading teachers of Theravada Buddhism, equally representing the lay and monastic traditions, addressed cutting-edge issues arising from the relatively recent introduction of Theravada Buddhism to the West. Throughout its long history, Theravada Buddhism has existed in a protected … [Read more...]