Wildmind's meditation blog
Wildmind's blogs are where you'll find book reviews, commentary, podcasts, and articles that don't fit neatly into the more structured guides to meditation that you'll find on the main part of the site. Articles are arranged below by date, and you can also browse by author and category using the links on the left.
Letting go, always letting go
In the first of a series of articles, The Rev. Canon Renée Miller explores Buddhist practice from the perspective of her own Christian faith.
The Dalai Lama says that meditation is the cure for every problem. That seems a bold claim to make. When we consider the various small and large problems in our lives, it doesn’t seem that meditation could resolve them. What can sitting in silence, counting our … Click to read more »
The technology of happiness
For years westerners have assumed that Buddhists must be a miserable lot: their teachings dwell so much on suffering. But recent scientific research suggests what Buddhists have believed all along. Buddhism — or at least Buddhist meditation — leads to happiness.
Media headlines in the last few years have trumpeted new research … Click to read more »
“Embracing Mind: the Common Ground of Science and Spirituality,” by Wallace, B. Alan & Brian Hodel
Are science and spirituality “non-overlapping magisteria” (as the late Stephen J. Gould put it), or can some overlap indeed be found? B. Alan Wallace, lecturer, scholar, and noted Buddhist practitioner, believes that it’s time for scientists and meditators to team up (and indeed for scientists to become meditators) in order to study the mind from within.
Alan Wallace became a Buddhist monk in the early 1970s, ordained by the Dalai Lama in India. … Click to read more »
Meditation zeitgeist, August 17, 2009
A not-entirely-random selection of blog posts on meditation.
A few days ago, the indefatigable Reverend Danny Fisher attempted to start a viral campaign of people reading the Metta Sutta in response to efforts by Burma’s ruling military junta to keep monastics from chanting it at least one large monastery. He has been pleased with the response so far. The Rev. Danny (did we mention that he’s indefatigable?) also carries a link to a … Click to read more »
“Hidden Dimensions” by B. Alan Wallace
A new book by Buddhist practitioner and writer B. Alan Wallace aims to bridge the gap between the worlds of science and of spirituality, but positing an adventurous new “Special Theory of Ontological Relativity.” Reviewer William Harryman expresses ambivalence about Wallace’s bold endeavor.
I like Alan Wallace. He is one of my favorite Buddhist scholars. In fact, I recently reviewed his newest book — Mind in the Balance — … Click to read more »
The happiest man in the world
The New York Times today has an article by Daniel Goleman, most famous for his work, Emotional Intelligence, but who has also been involved with His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Mind and Life conferences and with Dr. Richard Davidson’s research into the effects of meditation on the brain. He writes about Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, who has apparently been described as the happiest man in the world. Usually I’ve seen that title reserved for another meditator, Matthieu Ricard, but … Click to read more »
Meditation Zeitgeist, June 18, 2009
A not-entirely-random selection of blog posts on meditation.
Justin Whitaker, Buddhist scholar and blogger, has a nice review of Bodhipaksa’s latest audiobook, Still The Mind. Justin was a student of Bodhipaksa’s many years ago, but he’s the very soul of integrity and we don’t think his review is hyped in any way.
Via Shambhala Sun Space comes this delightfully quirky story of the launch of the “Buddha phone” in Japan; a single tap … Click to read more »
Four reasons Buddhists can love evolution
Evolution — at least in the United States — has a deeply troubled relationship with religion. Or at least it does with some religions.
As you can see from the Pew Trust chart below, Buddhists on the whole (81% of them) think that evolution is the best explanation for the origins of human life on Earth.
In fact of all the religious traditions included on the chart, Buddhists are the most accepting of … Click to read more »
Meditation zeitgeist, October 31, 2008
A not-entirely-random selection of blog posts on meditation.
Intentional chocolate
Making the mind behave
Driving meditation
Mindful mama essay contest
Metta for your job interview
Top 10 celebrity Buddhists
When we started putting this list together it seemed like it was going to be nothing more than a shallow, trivial — although perhaps welcome — distraction from all the news about disastrous wars and sordid political scandals, but as we dug deeper into the web we found that we felt at times inspired by reading about the practice of famous Buddhists, some of whom have had their trials. We hope that you too … Click to read more »
Lyman Abbott: Do not teach your children never to be angry; teach them how to be angry.
Once when I was listening to the Dalai Lama talk in Edinburgh, he was asked a question that went something like this: “You keep talking about changing the world through meditation and compassion, but isn’t anger faster?” His Holiness answered to the effect that it’s precisely because anger acts so swiftly that we have to be wary of it.
His Holiness’s reply reveals Buddhism’s ambivalent attitude to the emotion of anger. Anger’s not necessarily a … Click to read more »
Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue With the Dalai Lama, by Daniel Goleman
Available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
Don’t be put off by the title: this book should really be called “Positive emotions and how to develop them.”
A new book from Buddhist author Daniel Goleman (“Emotional Intelligence”) is always going to be an exciting event. More so in this case because of the extraordinary background out of which the book emerged.
The Dalai Lama, a fan of science since boyhood (he famously enjoys tinkering with watches and … Click to read more »