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.
“Unconditional Confidence,” by Pema Chödrön
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Is unconditional confidence possible? Famed meditation and dharma teacher Pema Chödrön argues that it is, says Vicky Matthews, and that the secret is a surprising one: unconditional confidence comes from being gentle with oneself.
The opportunity to review ‘Unconditional Confidence’ arrived at a time that couldn’t have been more pertinent. It had been the finale of a project I had been involved in, with a final pitch. The whole event had … Click to read more »
Learning to love ourselves
It happens so often among spiritually-minded people. We give our all to love and care for others, and yet when it comes to ourselves, we’re full of criticism and judgment. Sunada shares her experience of working with the practice of loving kindness, specifically learning to love herself.
It’s important to note that when the Buddha taught how to practice compassion, he always began with ourselves. This isn’t selfish. After all, if we … Click to read more »
Meditation zeitgeist, October 8, 2009
A not-entirely-random selection of blog posts on meditation.
Steve Bell has been reading some draft chapters from Bodhipaksa’s forthcoming book on The Six Elements, and so far seems to love it. Words like “amazing” and “awesome” are used. Thanks, Steve!
Will Buckingham has a lovely post titled “Questions we cannot go through,” which explores the art of “making settled things strange” by questioning one’s experience with inquiries such as,
“Where do thoughts come from? … Click to read more »
“Self, meditating,” by Robert Wright
New York Times: This Friday I’m heading up to rural Massachusetts in hopes of getting born again — again.
Six years ago, in the same locale, I attended my first and only silent meditation retreat. It was just about the most amazing experience of my life. Certainly it seemed more dramatic than my very first born-again experience — my response to a southern Baptist altar call as a child, which I wrote about in this space last month.
I came away … Click to read more »
“Natural Wakefulness: Discovering the Wisdom We Were Born With” by Gaylon Ferguson
A new book by Gaylon Ferguson argues that the biggest obstacle to natural wakefulness is the materialism that has us all in its grip, and that meditation and spiritual community are the antidotes Pam Dodd is our guest reviewer.
Gaylon Ferguson, a Tibetan Buddhist meditation master, has studied and taught meditation for over 30 years. During that time, he has probably met all kinds of people from all walks of life … Click to read more »
Auntie Suvanna: Breaking up — the Buddhist way
They say breaking up is hard to do. Can Buddhism make it easier? Auntie Suvanna dispenses her wit and wisdom to a Buddhist wanting to undo a powerful attachment.
Dear Auntie,
I only recently decided to become a Buddhist, so I’m still trying to work out how best to apply it to some situations in my life. I was especially wondering if there is a good way to break up with someone in a Buddhist … Click to read more »
What Rikers Island taught me about meditation
Prison can be a tough environment for those who work there as well as for inmates. Psychotherapist Steve Bell reflects on a few tough months spent in Rikers Island and realizes how much he learned.
For four months last year I worked with women detainees on Rikers Island in the Intense Treatment Unit, or ITU. Those four months were an adventure, but I won’t easily forget the trauma and abuse the women reported, and … Click to read more »
“True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart,” by Thich Nhat Hanh
Bodhipaksa reviews a new book by Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and finds a treasure-trove of teachings on love.
Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Zen Master, is one of the foremost Buddhist teachers in the West. He is rightly known as a preeminent teacher of mindfulness meditation, having burst into the reading public’s attention with his now-classic “The Miracle of Mindfulness.”
His style, however, is not the dry-as-bones, here-are-the-traditional-lists … Click to read more »
Aldous Huxley: “We can only love what we know, and we can never know completely what we do not love. Love is a mode of knowledge…”
Halfway between “the season of goodwill” and Valentine’s Day, Bodhipaksa looks at Huxley’s understanding of what love really is. Is love a feeling, or is it a way of knowing?
What do we mean when we say the word “love”? What does it really mean to love someone? In what way is love “a mode of knowledge.” When we’re talking about the fact that we love ice cream we obviously mean something very different … Click to read more »
Meditation zeitgeist, Dec 18, 2008
A not-entirely-random selection of blog posts on meditation.
Ways that Zen Sesshin is like military basic training
The Maha Santa Claus Sutra
Pema Chödrön reveals the time-tested Buddhist antidote to suffering
Back to the present: How to live in the moment
This is your brain on bliss
Chogyam Trungpa on Warriorship
In these extracts from a forthcoming book from Shambhala Publications, the late Chogyam Trungpa defines his vision of the peaceful Buddhist warrior and explains the joys of the warrior’s path.
THE WARRIOR’S WEAPONS
If victory is the notion of no enemy, then the whole world is a friend. That seems to be the warrior’s philosophy. The true warrior is not like somebody carrying a sword and looking behind his own shadow, in case somebody is lurking … Click to read more »
The Buddha: “If one should conquer thousands in battle, and if another should conquer only himself, his indeed is the greatest victory.”
Life as a battle is a common metaphor — even in Buddhist teachings. Bodhipaksa shows how the Buddha subverted the language of violence so that the true victory was to practice love.
If you look closely at life you’ll probably see that in at least some respects you see it as a battle.
Sometimes we say we “struggle” to keep up with our responsibilities. At times it seems we’re in “competition” … Click to read more »
Healing the mind’s wounds
How do we heal wounds in the mind? Author and performer Vimalasara offers advice, and a poem.
Every time we have a thought tinged with ill will, jealousy, anger, hatred or revenge, we are self-harming, and we are causing a wound to the mind. Whether the thought be about ourselves or another being, or an inanimate object, we are injuring the mind.
Lama Rangdrol, at a talk in the Bay Area, spoke about how we don’t … Click to read more »
Meditation zeitgeist, August 11, 2008
A not-entirely-random selection of blog posts on meditation.
Meditation zeitgeist, Aug 3, 2008
A not-entirely-random selection of blog posts on meditation.
Meditation for greater empathy?
Ask Auntie Suvanna: On loving Dick Cheney
Ever despair at how to cultivate lovingkindness for Dick Cheney, or ponder the effect of anti-depressants on Buddha Nature? If so, check out Auntie Suvanna, who applies her unique wisdom and wit to your queries about life, meditation, Dharma, family and relationship issues, or anything else that comes up. Why not write to her and tell her your troubles? They don’t have to be Buddhist troubles – any … Click to read more »
All Embracing Urge: Motherhood and Practice
Motherhood has opened up a new emotional realm for Srimati. But how to love wholeheartedly and continually let go is the ground of her daily practice.
Against the odds and ahead of hard evidence, I instinctively knew I was pregnant. As I lay in the bath there was something magical in the air. I found myself, hand on belly, making a heartfelt pledge in a tender whisper: If you’re there, you’re welcome and I’ll do … Click to read more »