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Showing posts from October, 2017

3 Buddhist Practices For a Better Life

The practice of Buddhism is full of rules and rituals that can be over-whelming to the average person.  Remembering when to bow, how to sit, and where to go to the bath room can be frustrating when all we want to do is ease our mental suffering. Thankfully, there are many dharma practices that translate easily into everyday life, and they don’t require years of practice to learn.  Incorporating these gems into your daily routine will make life calmer, simpler, and more fulfilling. Menmitsu This is a Japanese word that is most often translated as mindfulness. However, in the context of Buddhism it would be more accurate to call it loving attention.  This practice is demonstrated in the way that Zen practitioners carry themselves during meditation sessions.  Everything is done with ceremony.  The hands are held just-so when bowing. The incense is placed on the altar in a very specific way, and there is often an elaborate ritual for signaling the beginning and end of p

Rick and Morty: The Szechuan Sauce of Desire

I'm what you would call a late-adopter when it comes to T.V. shows.  Maybe I'm part hipster and I shy away from trends. Maybe I'm too lazy to keep up with what's cool. Or maybe not having cable cuts me off from the world more than I realized.  I don't know.  I just know that I rarely find out about the "hot new thing" on TV until it's been out for several seasons, such is the case with Rick and Morty. The show is about Rick; an alcoholic, genius scientist who's constantly dragging his family into adventures all over the universe.  Sadly, he spends part of every episode ranting about how life is meaningless.  But no one's perfect.  Rick's comic relief is his 14 year-old grandson, Morty, who is both well-intentioned and painfully naïve. The show is interesting because it's multi-layered.  You can watch it at a surface level and simply enjoy the dark humor, or you can explore some of it's deeper, philosophical concepts. 

Puja: A Perfect Offering to The Buddha

Puja or 'the act of showing reverence' is a key part of Buddhist practice.  It's often done as a sign of respect for the Buddha and his teachings, and is part of the reason you see Buddha statues and altars in most practice centers.  Tibetan Buddhists have very elaborate forms for their Pujas .  The ceremonies can take up to a half-hour or more and include the offering of flowers, fresh water, and fruit. In contrast, Zen groups tend to be a bit more low-key; restricting the ceremony to the lighting of incense, chanting, and several prostrations before starting meditation. That being said, taking part in the more devotional parts of Buddhist practice was difficult when I first started training.  Dropping to my knees and prostrating before a statue felt like idol worship.  And placing food on an altar that would never be eaten felt silly.  But I accepted that it was part of the package, and muddled through without complaining. However, something started to chang

Buddhist Faith: A Stepping Stone to Enlightenment

I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian family, so we spoke a lot about faith, and what would happen if we allowed our faith to waver.  At that time, faith for me meant placing my trust in a supernatural power that I could neither see or feel.  The idea was that if I had enough faith in this supernatural power, then I could use petitionary prayer as a means of having my desires (good grades, better health, more friends, etc.) fulfilled. However, as I got older I was introduced to a different kind of faith via my studies in science and technology.  This faith was not in a supernatural force.  Rather it was faith in a method, the scientific method, and our ability to understand the world around us if we followed it.  My teachers taught me that if I followed the scientific method closely, was careful in my lab measurements, and honest in my reading of the data, then the truth would be revealed. In Buddhism, I've found a faith that is a blending of these two ideals.  F

Existence: A Buddhist Response to Mass Murder

I'm standing in the break room at work, preparing to make a cup of tea.  Then a news alert appears on my phone, and I learn there's been a mass shooting in Las Vegas.  My heart drops, and I reflexively focus on my breathing.  The impromptu meditation keeps me standing as I stare at the screen; 50+ dead, and hundreds wounded because of one man.  Lives have been shattered, and families torn apart because of one man.  Unimaginable suffering caused by one man, in a hotel room, with a small arsenal of guns;  it's hard to comprehend. And yet, life goes on.  I have to attend meetings and answer emails.  I have to ride my bike home at the end of the day and make dinner.  I have to keep living in the midst of this tragedy, and find a way to move forward. So I return to my desk, empty cup in hand, and get back to work. A few days later, I ride my bike to a nearby church.  A nonprofit called The Interreligious Task Force on Central America is located there , and I vo

Sisyphus: Laughing In The Midst of Suffering

According to Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a king in modern day Corinth, and a renowned trickster of both men and gods alike.  He famously escaped death by convincing Hades, the god of the underworld, to put on a set of hand cuffs in order to show him how they worked.  Once Hades was locked up, Sisyphus threw him in a closet, and continued living his life as if nothing had happened. In spite of his cunning, however, Sisyphus did eventually die, and his soul was sent to Tartarus , the ancient Greek version of hell.  As punishment for his crimes, he was condemned to spend eternity rolling a heavy boulder up a hill each day only to have it roll down again once it got to the top. It was a grueling task.  Between the boredom of doing the same thing every day, and the back breaking labor of pushing a boulder I imagine that Sisyphus endured great suffering.  In this way, his story is an excellent metaphor for our lives. We all have boulders/ suffering that we deal with e