The 12th Global Conference on Buddhism featured major guests like Mingyur Rinpoche, Ajahn Brahm, and Ayya Santini
living
Education and Growth: Serenity of the Path’s Insight
Part One in a six-piece series of reflections by Dr. Anthony C C Lok, Chinese Buddhist layman
Remember to Change Your Oil
There was another time when one of my teachers — the abbot on a temple just outside of downtown Los Angeles — pulled me aside to tell me something important. I was expecting him to share enlightening words with me. In a way, his advice proved to be wise, albeit unexpected. He wanted to remind […]
The Sacred
is when you knowthat shoveling the drivewayis a Catholic mass and eating at Red Lobster is the same as receiving communion, that’s prayer and meditationa Yoga when taking a shower is baptism and going to the movies is Mecca when reading the Torah is reading the New York Times and going for a walk in the woods and having sex is celibacysmoking joints and tobacco and incense and salmon on the grill in the backyard on Columbus Day or Veterans […]
Journals
Journal #3Survival is nature’s morality. Life on its own is valueless. We give it value.We make it worthsomething,and say it’s so. Like your Aunt’sfavorite pearls or your Uncle’sgolden watch. We are the treefalling with no onethere to hear it crash.
Suffering the Process of Decision-Making
Several years ago, I went through a period when I struggled with unemployment—no matter how many job applications I submitted, nothing seemed to come of my efforts. That is, until one day (as it often happens) I got two job offers at the same time. The offers were both appealing to the same extent, with […]
Leap Out of the River of Time
Master Jingzong; English translation by Foyi, edited by Fojin Time is like a river of boiling water. We jump and scurry frantically in it to avoid being scalded. But all our efforts are of no avail. With the rapid development of technology and the economy, has there been a corresponding reduction in human suffering? Namo Amitabha […]
Humanism and Zen
Authentic humanism, in Pierre Furter’s words, “consists in permitting the emergence of the awareness of our full humanity, as a condition and as an obligation, as a situation and as a project.” – Paolo Feire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed These days my Buddhist practice life spins around, tumbles through, and is, ultimately, anchored by a […]
Who’s Qualified to Teach the Children?
From Master Jingzong Facebook; English translation by Foying, edited by Jingnian Are we qualified to educate a child, simply because we are adults? Are those who have teachers’ credentials competent enough to teach youngsters? Are more knowledgeable people capable of teaching kids? Aren’t children more innocent, honest and joyful than we are? Are they not more […]