In my last post, I began a look into some of the philosophical underpinnings of the Buddha’s worldview, and how this view shaped his orientation towards finding happiness and peace within the world. In the Kaccayanagotta Sutta, a discourse given to the seeker, Kaccayana Gotta, the Buddha summarizes and rejects two common metaphysical views of his day. […]
Hacking Through the Thicket
“Everything in moderation, including moderation,” said Oscar Wilde. Advocates of moderation often find their spiritual footing within the Buddha’s doctrine of the Middle Path. As its name suggests, the Middle Path adheres to an approach that avoids the two extremes of self-mortification (ie. extreme asceticism) and self-indulgence (ie. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow […]
Shock and Trance Revisited (2/2)
“What the world needs most is people who are less bound by prejudice. It needs more love, more generosity, more mercy, more openness. The root of human problems is not a lack of resources but comes from the misunderstanding, fear, and separateness that can be found in the hearts of people.” -Jack Kornfield In the […]
Shock and Trance, Revisited (1/2)
What’s the Buddhist perspective on… Paris? San Bernardino? Sandy Hook? Fort Hood? Syria? Lebanon? The Congo? The climate? The list goes on. Often, whenever there has been an incident of violence somewhere in the world, someone, during or after a workshop, will ask me: What’s the Buddhist perspective on… ? And my sense is that the […]
Accomplished Fugitives
Recently, while working on the Oliver Sacks piece, I found myself browsing through Maria Popova’s fantastic website: www.brainpickings.org. For a trove of material on the meaningful life, one need not look any further. At some point, I came across an article on self-renewal which highlighted this captivating passage from John Gardner: “We can keep ourselves so busy, fill our lives with […]
Ode To Oliver
It’s been about a week now. Last Sunday, Dr. Oliver Sacks died. For those who have not yet had the great pleasure of reading Oliver Sacks, I’ll make the briefest of introductions here: Dr. Sacks was a neurologist, an author, and a mesmerizing story-teller. I don’t intend to eulogize him. Others have done that far more eloquently […]
Holistic Development
Over the last few months, I have tried to explore a gentle critique of one modern, popular definition of mindfulness. While formulating this critique (here, here, and here), I’ve been wrestling with an attempt to update the definition. One of the issues I’m having is that, on it’s own, mindfulness is a fragmented piece of a larger […]
The Problem with Non-Judging
Over the last two entries, here and here, I began to look at the potential ways in which a popular definition of mindfulness can lead to mis-application and/or confusion within the actual practice. The definition I’ve been critiquing is from Jon Kabat-Zinn: “Mindfulness means paying attention, in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.” And […]
Unlocking the Present
Last post, I began a gentle critique of a definition of mindfulness that comes from Jon Kabat-Zinn: “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.” I realize that critiquing an utterance from Kabat-Zinn is comparable to heresy in some circles, but something worth remembering is that Kabat-Zinn’s approach […]
Minute of Definition
As you undoubtedly are aware, mindfulness is gaining in popularity; it’s seemingly everywhere now. So much so that it has its own name: The Mindfulness Movement. And as with any sort of movement, there are its proponents and its critics. Most of the criticism seems to express concern around the ethics of its application (Beyond […]
Losing an "I"
Last week, I attended a public conversation between Sam Harris, author and neuroscientist, and Greg Epstein, the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University. Watch the highlights here and the full video here. Harris has recently come out with his new book, Waking Up, A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion (which I recommend) and most of the discussion examined themes central to the […]
Wise Stillness (Samadhi) 4/4: Twinkle, Twinkle
In the final installment on Wise Stillness (and also the final installment on these short reflections on the Noble Eightfold Path), I want to try and draw some themes together, particularly the link between Wise Stillness and Wise View. The last limb of the Eightfold Path, in Pali, is Samma Samadhi, often translated as Wise Concentration. […]
Wise Stillness (Samadhi) 3/4: Don't Focus on the Breath
In the first two segments of this short series on Wise Stillness, I tried to emphasize two complementary attitudes that support the experience of stillness. The first, as beautifully articulated by Ajahn Brahm’s teaching, is the attitude of allowing and letting go. The second is an appreciation of essentialism, reminding oneself of the explicit value of simplicity. […]
Wise Stillness (Samadhi) 2/4: No Other Single Thing
Essentialism. I recently came across a fantastic book by Greg McKeown with lots of ‘dharmic’ themes. The book is: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. One of McKeown’s basic ideas is that it’s not just a question of decluttering, stream-lining and getting rid of stuff that’s in your way; it’s much more an issue of investing […]
Wise Stillness 1/4 (Samadhi): The Pleasure of Less
Stillness. And so we come to the final spoke of the Eightfold Path: Samadhi. Often, Samadhi is translated as ‘concentration’, but as Ajahn Brahm suggests in the clip below, it might be translated better as ‘stillness’. This clip is some of the best advice I’ve heard for the development of Samadhi. Please take a few minutes […]
Wise Mindfulness (Sati) 3/3: Proper Balance
Balance. It’s a word we hear a lot about. Work-Life Balance. Fiscal Balance. Spiritual Balance. Protein-Carb-Fat Balance. And like so many of the spiritual faculties we read or hear about, balance, in any sense, can often feel rather elusive. How does Mindfulness Promote Balance? Through meditation practice we gain an intimate glimpse on the way the mind tends to move […]
Wise Mindfulness (Sati) 2/3: Not Mickey Mouse Mindfulness
For this Minute, I wanted to address some of the misconceptions that tend to crop up around the popularized understanding of mindfulness. And these misconceptions are what I’m referring to when I say: Mickey Mouse Mindfulness. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but these three forms of Mickey Mouse Mindfulness come up again and again and could benefit from some […]
Wise Mindfulness (Sati) 1/3: Not What, But How
In these next few Minutes, I’ll be reflecting on, of all things, Mindfulness (Sati). Imagine that. Sati is the seventh aspect of the eight-fold path. Many previous newsletters (now archived on my blog: www.minuteofmindfulness.com) have focused on Sati, particularly this one here. But in this newsletter, I wanted to pick up on a theme mentioned in Jay […]
Wise Effort 3/3: The Marvel of Unknowing
Last week I tried something different. At the end of the summer, I often sit a retreat at the Insight Meditation Society. But this year, the center’s schedule and my own weren’t compatible, so I decided to undertake a stay-cation of sorts and do a self-retreat at home, in the middle of Cambridge. The plan was […]
Wise Effort 2/3
Continuing with the theme of Wise Effort in meditation, I wanted to pick up on a thread from Ajahn Sucitto. He writes: “Energy has to be sustainable. For this reason, it’s good to assess if there are things you’re doing that you don’t need to do, so that your resources don’t dissipate. Even as you […]