Four astounding things

Four astounding things happen when the Buddha teaches the Dhamma. When he teaches about non-attachment, people want to listen and to understand how to give up attachment. When he teaches about the removal of conceit, people lend ear and try to understand it. People delight…

We Are Not Separate At All

During times of global pandemic, it’s easier to see how deeply connected we are in our vulnerability to disease.  Meditating and touching the silent space of the heart, we see how deeply connected we are at all times – connected in dis-ease; in fear, in…

A Cry of Surprise

In the inner sea, we know what is truly true. Knowing is the mother, breathing is the child. Going beyond past hurts, beyond thought, being old or young, desolate or delighted, go even beyond Covid, there in the timeless emptiness of present moment awareness…

The Quail’s Tale – A Path to Harmlessness

Praising Truth for its own sake, we lean in the direction of Truth. We make our intention not to harm by body, speech, or thought. Harmlessness leads to selflessness. Selflessness leads to the Deathless. To boundless compassion. This will save us from the flames…

Noble Subtrefuge – Four Royal Efforts

How can we trick the mind out of its old habits?  The Buddha emphasized the power of the four Right Efforts. These royal allies advance the mind to its highest potential, the supreme wisdom possible for a human being. We are here to work…

Mantra of Compassion

Fear is the absence of love. Our inner purification is a movement away from fear to the embodiment of pure love – even to love the dying moment. We grow in stillness and peace as if sailing an ocean of joy, in the peace…

The Unequivocal Law of Kamma

Responding to questions about social change during COVID pandemic protests: seeing that we are the owners of our actions, subject to the law of kamma, we can embody the Buddha’s teachings by respecting all beings with compassion, nonviolence and our foundation in virtue, and…

Bowing on Two Knees: COVID Compassion and Nonviolence

We long to change for the good, to grow in the ways of wisdom, to sit at the feet of the Buddha. But how? The world is on fire with the flames of greed, hatred and delusion. In this COVID year, we see moral…

On the Altar of this Moment

A guided meditation into the heart of our struggles and fears where, on the altar of our tears, the jewels of the Dhamma are revealed radiant within us. Breath by breath, wisely seeing through and courageously defying all obstacles to our freedom, we embark…

When Fear Dies

In the Sallekha Sutta, MN 8, the Buddha teaches us how not to imitate the faults of others, how to be fearless in the good, and how to vanquish unwholesome mental habits. We start where we are and trust the path, learning to live…