Articles
7/22 Practice Circle: Befriend Yourself
This Sunday, July 22, at 6 pm Pacific, 7 Mountain, 8 Central and 9 Eastern, Practice Circle will explore the practice of unconditional friendliness towards the self. Amy Balentine will be leading a meditation taught by Pema Chodron. In this straightforward practice, we will be invited to bring a quality of clear seeing and gentleness…
Read More7/8 Practice Circle: A Compassionate Friend
In a world in which hatred and blame seem to be winning, where can we find compassion and acceptance in the face of life’s suffering? We have a compassionate resource always available in our own hearts – in fact, the only place we can ever experience compassion is within ourselves. When Practice Circle meets again…
Read MoreTuwhiri: An Educational Resource For Secular Buddhists
The following article is from Ramsey Margolis of Secular Buddhism New Zealand. Towards the end of 2014, Stephen Batchelor sent proofs of his unpublished book After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age to Winton Higgins, a secular Buddhist teacher in Sydney, Australia, asking him to critically examine the text. Having provided the required…
Read More6/24 Practice Circle: More Mindful Self-Compassion
I’m eager to share some of the many very useful practices I learned while being trained in the basics of Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) by its originators, Kristin Neff and Chris Germer, at a recent two-day workshop. This Sunday, June 24, at 6 pm Pacific, 7 Mountain, 8 Central and 9 Eastern, Practice Circle will explore…
Read More6/10 Practice Circle: Mindful Self-Compassion
I’m eager to share some of the many very useful practices I learned while being trained in the basics of Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) by its originators, Kristin Neff and Chris Germer, at a recent two-day workshop. We’ll begin this Sunday, June 10, at 6 pm Pacific, 7 Mountain, 8 Eastern, when Practice Circle will explore…
Read More5/27 Practice Circle: The Five Hindrances, with Amy Balentine
When Practice Circle meets again this Sunday, May 27th, at 6 p.m. Pacific, 7 Mountain, 8 Central and 9 Eastern, we’ll explore the Five Hindrances in meditation practice. Click here to join our free video conference group Sunday night! We all experience obstacles or difficulties in meditation, which can lead to discouragement or a belief…
Read MoreBuddha: The First Humanist?
Robert Thurman is a noted author on Buddhist topics and Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University. In 1990, the Humanist Association of Massachusetts invited Robert Thurman, Professor of Religion at Columbia University to lecture on the similarities and differences between Western philosophical Humanism and Buddhism. His talk was entitled Buddha: The First Humanist?…
Read More5/13 Practice Circle: Trust
When Practice Circle meets again this Sunday, May 13th, at 6 p.m. Pacific, 8 Central and 9 Eastern, we’ll explore one of the Attitudes of Mindfulness described by Jon Kabat-Zinn for the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. The attitude we’ll be discussing is that of Trust, and how it plays a role in contemplative practice.…
Read More4/22 Practice Circle: Mindfulness of Dharmas
When Practice Circle meets again this Sunday, April 8, at 6 p.m. Pacific, 8 Central and 9 Eastern, we’ll conclude our four-part examination of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness by examining the Fourth Foundation, mindfulness of dharmas. The word dharma, or dhamma in Pali, has a number of meanings, but in this instance it refers…
Read More4/8 Practice Circle: Mindfulness of Mind
I’ve been reading Beth Ann Mulligan’s The Dharma of Modern Mindfulness, which is impressive for the way she uses anecdotes from her secular MBSR course to illustrate basic Buddhist principles. In that spirit, when Practice Circle meets again this Sunday, April 8, at 6 p.m. Pacific, 8 Central and 9 Eastern, we’ll continue our four-part…
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