It has been several months since the opposition in Hong Kong swept the board in the District Council elections. The level of violence associated with the protest movement that began more than six months ago has much reduced. However, this may be just a lull before the storm, as the basic problems have not been […]
mindfulness
Is Buddhism the Problem?
I have recently been recommending Sam Harris’ meditation app. Waking Up to some of my atheist friends who would not go near anything that smacked of religion. I like this app more than some other secular meditation apps I have come across, mainly because it doesn’t simply aim to help people to become less stressed. […]
Simon Hui’s Mindful Studio for Life
Simon Hui is founder of Mindful Studio HK, a yoga studio offering courses to seekers of physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. Try imagining someone born in Hong Kong who grew up in Nigeria, was educated in the US, learned yoga in India, and ordained as a monk in Myanmar. That is my continuously unfolding adventure, and […]
The Auspiciousness of Right Now
We’re all blessed to live in an age of the Dharma. There is an ocean of helpful video, audio, and print resources that expound Buddhist beliefs and practice, and it has never been easier to engage with skilled teachers from all traditions, even in parts of the world far from Buddhist homelands. The canons of […]
Sending Loving-kindness
“Did today’s guided meditation session make your mind happy and peaceful?” I asked this question to Chan Oi Wan, an undergraduate student who was enrolled in a minor course offered by the Centre of Buddhist Studies (CBS) of the University of Hong Kong (HKU). The course was called Buddhist Psychology and Mental Cultivation. 200 undergraduate […]
Dharma Dispatch, 17-21 September 2018: Mindfulness in Kenyan Prisons, Vietnamese Reconciliation, and Maharashtra Development
Good morning! Naivasha GK, Kenya’s largest maximum-security prison located just north of the capital Nairobi, is using a mindfulness training program to control violence and bring inmates and guards closer together. Dr. Inmaculada Adarves-Yorno, a lecturer in leadership studies at Britain’s University of Exeter, introduced the idea to the prison’s management. The mindfulness program seeks to improve prison culture […]
Gifts of the Moment
Walking along the fence of the allotment, a window opens into something like deep, foraging time. Walking carefully, steadily, gaze turned towards the edible potential to my left, with senses open to the wider environment. Calm, content, alert, I could keep going like this all afternoon. What is it that makes me think of an […]
Flying Mindfully by Air France
We had been flying to Madrid from Hong Kong with a layover in Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport. The purpose of our journey was to attend the conference “1st World Encounter Teresian Mysticism and Interreligious Dialogue: Theravada Buddhism and Teresian Mysticism – Meditation and Contemplation Pathways to Peace,” which was held from 27–30 July at the International Centre of […]
Musings on Mindfulness and Metta
Graham Lock Last December, I took part in an 8-day metta meditation retreat at the Hong Kong Insight Meditation Society’s meditation centre at Fa Hong Monastery on Lantau Island. The retreat was led by Visu Teoh, an experienced and well-respected teacher of vipassana and metta meditation based in Penang, and well known in Hong Kong […]
Make Something
Ratnadevi When I joined Facebook a few months ago I was slightly concerned that it might turn into another of those addictions, like binge watching television series on Netflix (something I have to watch!). But so far, it hasn’t turned out that way, I am glad to say. The holiday adventures of a distant friend […]