Archive for February 2013
Metta–Goodwill to All
I’ve struggled for a long time with metta practice, often called Loving Kindness meditation. Generally, this practice is carried out by sitting in guided meditation, then on your own later. During meditation, you picture in your mind a person you hold dear, and are mindful of how that feels. Holding that feeling of endearment, you…
Read MoreMeeting Dharma Buddies on SBA
Let’s face it, practice requires continual attention, intention, meditation time, and much of it is not easy. Learning about Buddhism is also challenging, especially since most books are not written for a secular viewpoint. Of course, that is why we created the SBA site, to provide you with information on secular Buddhism, and to make…
Read MoreTed Interviewed by Buddhist Geeks
Ted Meissner is the host of The Secular Buddhist podcast and the Executive Director of the Secular Buddhist Association. In this episode with host Vincent Horn chief geek at Buddhist Geeks, Ted shares examples of secular Buddhism, why he is skeptical but not cynical about religion, and he stresses what he thinks is the importance of…
Read MoreOn Mundane Freedom
Ye dharmā hetuprabhavā hetuṃ teṣāṃ tathāgataḥ hyavadat teṣāṃ ca yo nirodha evaṃ vādī mahāśramaṇaḥ Of those things that arise from a cause, the Tathāgata has told the cause, and also what their cessation is: this is the doctrine of the Great Recluse. Vinaya, Mahavagga, I.23.5 “The most famous statement in Buddhism” — Donald Lopez, Buddhism…
Read MoreMarch 2013 Practice Challenge
We started 2013 with a January Practice Challenge, a whim of an idea on our FaceBook page. That not only prompted many readers to start a meditation practice, but to re-invigorate an existing practice that had been languishing (like my own!). In addition to energizing people already part of our online community, we had an…
Read MoreThe Footman's Snicker
Go: get a piece of paper. Write down your four favorite possessions. Write down your four favorite pastimes. Write down the four parts of your body you like the best. Write down the four people you care for most. Write down your four best personality traits. Go ahead. Do it now, then come back. I’ll…
Read MoreEpisode 157 :: Marc Lesser :: Know Yourself, Forget Yourself
Marc Lesser Today we speak with the CEO of the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute Marc Lesser about his new book Know Yourself, Forget Yourself: Five Truths That Will Transform Your Work, Relationships, and Everyday Life. Paradox is, at best, not the most comforting of places to put our minds. And yet we see it…
Read MoreA Private Place in a Public Space
Spaceship It is six in the morning on the fourth of February, and I’m watching the sky slowly lighten enough to see waves foaming over small islands of rock on the Pacific coast, just north of Big Sur. The song of the surf and the occasional low boom of a wave striking shore has been…
Read MoreSkillful Versus Unskillful Thinking
For the past two months, I’ve had a lot of time to think, perhaps too much time. At any rate, thinking is natural to us all, and sometimes the way people write about it, you could get the impression that thinking is wrong in Buddhism. Not so. Buddha was clear that there is skillful thinking…
Read MoreEpisode 156 :: Mirabai Bush :: The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society
Mirabai Bush Mirabai Bush speaks with us about The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. The ideas and practices of Buddhism are finding new ways of expression in today’s society. We see mindfulness, for example, in therapeutic contexts and in the workplace, contributing to the betterment of our culture and the world. Few people have…
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