Posts by Mark Knickelbine
Practice Circle: Stay Close to Your Resentment
One of the interesting things about working with the Tibetan Lojong slogans is the way they so often seem strangely counterintuitive. The slogan we’ll be working with this week at Practice Circle is a good example: “Stay Close to Your Resentment.” What? As good Buddhists, aren’t we supposed to be releasing our clinging to illusory…
Read MorePractice Circle Live: The Hindrances
This guided meditation on the Five Hindrances was recorded live at the SBA Practice Circle on May 14, 2017. It’s about 27 minutes in length. If you’d like to join us at our free online dharma practice group, you can learn more here.
Read MorePractice Circle: Make Practice Your Whole Life
Those of you who have joined us at Practice Circle lately know that we have been working with the Tibetan Lojong text, fifty-nine slogans that present seven points of training the mind. There have been countless commentaries on the Lojong text; the one we’ve been working with is Norman Fischer’s wonderful Training in Compassion: Zen…
Read MorePractice Circle: The Antidote to Hatred
In this world Hate never yet dispelled hate. Only love dispels hate. This is the law, Ancient and inexhaustible. Dhammapada As a mother watches over her child, willing to risk her own life to protect her only child, so with a boundless heart should one cherish all living beings, suffusing the whole world with unobstructed…
Read MoreMeditating with Muse
As soon as I saw the first ads for Muse, the “brain-sensing headband” that provides users with feedback during meditation, I felt both intrigued and conflicted. After all, you don’t need a $300 electronic gadget to meditate. Would this be just one more mindfulness commodity, another plaything to become attached to? Would it be useful?…
Read MoreRadical Dharma: A Review
America’s racial sickness has become especially vivid in recent months. Whether it’s the execution of unarmed black people by police, retaliatory violence against police, the disruptive resistance of the Black Lives Matter movement, or the appearance of an openly racist demagogue as the presidential nominee of a major party, anyone who may have supposed that…
Read MorePractice Circle: Focusing with Politics
Here in the United States, we are preparing to enter a season of political fear and loathing that may rival or exceed that of 1968. Two presidential candidates, each of whom is detested by millions of people, are apparently prepared to do everything they can to increase each other’s negatives still further. People on all…
Read MoreThe Move to Zoom
After using Adobe Connect ever since SBA started hosting virtual meetings in 2012, we’re making a change. Beginning with our June 12, 2016 meeting of Practice Circle, we’re going to begin using Zoom. It’s a very similar program that has features much like Connect, but it offers a number of distinct advantages. First off, it…
Read MoreMy First Float
Last Saturday, I had my first experience in a float tank, sometimes also referred to as a sensory deprivation chamber. I had been curious about them since I first learned about them in the 1970s, especially after seeing the 1980 William Hurt movie, Altered States. Recently, a couple of commercial float ventures have opened in…
Read MorePractice Circle April 3: Rick Heller and Face Meditation
Hi! To avoid the holiday weekend, we’ll reschedule Practice Circle for Sunday, April 3, when author Rick Heller will join us as guest facilitator. Rick will share one of the practices from his book, Secular Mediation: 32 Practices for Cultivating Inner Peace, Compassion and Joy. Here’s an excerpt from the chapter on the practice Rick…
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