"The
Path of Mindfulness and Love" ($75)Aug 23 Meditate
the stress away (Press-Telegram, Los Angeles)
David Perrin couldn't let go of his anxious thoughts. If he
dealt with a cranky guest at the hotel where he works, the encounter
weighed on him for the rest of the day. Now when that happens,
he just says, "Om."
Aug 19 China
detains Buddhist, U.S. group says (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
A Chinese Buddhist leader was detained and some of his American
followers dragged away when they tried to hold a ceremony at
a temple in northern China that they had paid to renovate, according
to members of the group. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing on Thursday
protested to China over the "mistreatment of American citizens"
and sought assurances that the spiritual leader, Yu Tianjian,
would be treated fairly.
Aug 18 More
on meditation and Zen Master Thich Thanh Tu (Fort Wayne
News Sentinel)
My own halting attempts to meditate had begun about six months
ago after I stumbled across a meditation manual in, of all places,
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reference library. Several days
a week I would enter my den in my sweat suit (or whatever clothes
I happened to be wearing that morning), shut off the computer
and find the comfortable chair in the corner of our den. But
on a recent evening at Quang Chieu Zen Monastery, the nuns would
have none of that.
Aug 18 Substance
abuse treated with yoga and acupuncture (Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
Texas)
Four days a week, Lori McLaughlin waits patiently in a small
room, five needles sticking in each ear. Within five minutes,
her fidgeting stops and she smiles. "It doesn't hurt," she said.
"I sleep better. I can relax. And I don't feel like I have to
find $10 so I can go out and buy drugs. Not anymore." McLaughlin
is a regular at acupuncture drug treatment, or acu-detox, sessions
offered by the nonprofit Tarrant Council on Alcoholism& Drug
Abuse. She also participates in a new, complementary program,
yoga for beginners.
Aug 17 Madonna's
"Peace Room" raises questions about meditation
(Religion News Service)
The Sun Newspaper in the UK reports that Madonna has asked that
a special "peace room" be constructed backstage at the Manchester
News Arena in advance of her two concert appearances there.
The soundproof area is reportedly needed "so she can meditate
and go into a trance before going on stage." The room walls
must be draped in green sheeting and have soft cushions on the
floor. It quotes "an insider" as saying: "She doesn't want to
hear a pin drop and it needs to be green -- the colour most
conducive to meditation."
Aug 16 Dialing
up emptiness (Sacramento Bee, California)
Back in the '70s, many of us devoted ourselves to "being in
the moment" and "living in the present." To achieve this end,
we meditated, we did yoga, we sought a simpler life. And it
felt good. The idea was that whatever it is that we are doing
right now is as important as anything past or future. Our life
has meaning and is rewarding to the extent that we can focus
on each task we perform as we are performing it, each thought
as we are thinking it, each emotion as we are feeling it.
Aug 16 Look
back at anger (BBC)
If there's one emotion you are supposed to keep bottled up,
it's anger - which means big business for anyone giving lessons
to those who find it difficult to control themselves. But is
anger as bad as it's made out to be?
Aug 15 Nothing
doing (San Francisco Chronicle)
A number of years ago, feeling more stressed out than usual,
I signed up for a meditation class. On the first night, sitting
cross-legged on the floor with several dozen other seekers of
peace, I listened as an elderly Buddhist monk told us to close
our eyes and think about absolutely nothing. I tried, and for
about half a second I almost had it.
Aug 15 Learning
the Robes: 11-year-old devotes summers to sampling the monastic
life (Anchorage Daily News, Alaska)
Five minutes ago, Oni Malamon had his hair shaved clean off
for the third summer in a row. He sat on his heels on a towel
in the basement of Wat Dhamma Bhavana Buddhist Center, a Thai
Buddhist temple on a suburban street in South Anchorage. His
eyes were squeezed shut, one cracking open periodically to watch
two monks' orange robes as they spread shaving cream over his
head.
Aug 15 The
nuns' life: enlightenment without TV (Star-Telegram, Texas)
Inside the new temple, the floors are covered by lush gray carpet,
the walls painted a vivid yellow, but the focal point, of course,
is the huge statue of Buddha at the head of the room, surrounded
by flowers, fruit offerings and a fluorescent halo (behind the
statue's head).
Aug 14 Alternative
therapies seeing a new revival (Khaleej Times - Dubai,United
Arab Emirates)
With the mainstream medicines offering only a little hope in
some cases, a good number of people have been taking recourse
to alternative therapies to revive their health. Ancient therapies,
such as yoga, acupuncture, feng shui, aromatherapy and colour
therapy are seeing a new revival amongst people, with many trying
these to increase their sense of well-being.
Aug 13 Meditation
center denied 'Om' in Graham (Bradford County Telegraph,
Florida)
In what might be a first in the history of zoning, a meditation
center will not be built in Graham - not because neighboring
property owners feared disruption by the center, but because
the property owners, themselves, felt they would cause too much
racket for those in search of peace and quiet.
Aug 12 Pittman's
race against the clock (Sidney Morning Herald, Australia)
Jana Pittman has bypassed modern technology and is relying on
new-age techniques in her bid to make the starting line in Athens.
For months Pittman has practised meditation; now it is a significant
weapon in her fight to overcome a knee injury, and subsequent
surgery, and compete in the Olympic 400-metre hurdles heats
on August 21.
Aug 9 Iowa
town booms on Eastern ways (Washington Post)
When Eric Schwartz decided to move his financial services business
from Silver Spring here to southeastern Iowa so he could join
other practitioners of transcendental Meditation in 1992, he
worried that clients and colleagues might think he was a little
crazy. "Some people think TM [transcendental Meditation] is
some kind of cult or devil worship," he said. "I thought it
might be negative for my business, that customers would freak
out."
Aug 6 Retreat
from my retreat (National Public Radio 
)
A year ago this week, Ted Rose abandoned his New York City urban
life and headed for the American West. He lives year-round at
the Shambhala Mountain Center in the Colorado Rockies. In part
three of a week-long series, he talks about how he sometimes
needs a retreat from his retreat.
Aug 5 Witness
to a cremation (National Public Radio )
When commentator Ted Rose moved from New York City to the Shambhala
Mountain Center, a Buddhist retreat in the Colorado Rockies,
people talked about the meditation schedules and the communal
eating. No one mentioned the center's open-air crematorium.
Aug 3 Buddhism
and the 12 Steps (Beliefnet)
Both Buddhist practice and 12-Step programs encourage followers
to have faith in their own experience.
Aug 3 Awareness
in every sip (Beliefnet)
'Mindful drinkers' say alcohol in moderation can illuminate
the mind. But some Buddhists get more than a buzz.
Aug 1 Minnesotan's
quest leads to the path of Zen (Minnesota Star tribune)
His own unfolding life has led Steve Hagen from his hometown
of Duluth to a path of spiritual questioning and the study of
Zen Buddhism. He founded Dharma Field Zen Center, a meditation
and learning center in Minneapolis, and has written a best-selling
book on Buddhism. And he's part of the first generation of American
Zen teachers. In his books, the Zen teacher tries to dispel
misunderstandings about Buddhism. He also tries to help people
understand how their thinking can lead to difficulties such
as longing and loathing, and suggests ways to avoid those ways
of thinking.
