Ésta será probablemente la última charla de sábado por la noche que daré durante bastante tiempo. He recibido noticias de mi hermana en Inglaterra de que nuestra madre está muy enferma y todo indica que no vivirá más de unos meses, así que planeo volar a Inglaterra en una semana para estar con ella. El Buda dijo una vez (Anguttara Nikaya 2:32) que si cargaras con tus padres durante toda su vida —tu padre sobre un hombro y tu madre sobre el otro—, incluso hasta el punto en que perdieran sus facultades y sus excrementos corrieran por tu espalda,  no lograrías saldar tu deuda de gratitud hac ..read more

In our culture, people find it difficult to direct loving-kindness to themselves. We may feel that we are unworthy, or that it’s egotistical, or that we shouldn’t be happy when other people are suffering. So rather than start loving-kindness practice with ourselves, which is traditional, I find it more helpful to start with those we most naturally love and care about. One of the beautiful principles of compassion and loving-kindness practices is that we start where it works, where it’s easiest. We open our heart in the most natural way, then direct our loving-kindness little by little to the a ..read more

Pema Chödrön: There’s an ideal in the Buddhist teachings called the bodhisattva. Bodhisattvas are people whose purpose in life is to alleviate suffering. The main thing they want to do is soothe the sorrows of the world. I’m sure that Father Gregory does not like to be called a bodhisattva or anything like that, but as far as I’m concerned that’s what he is. I came to know of Father Gregory’s work and Homeboy Industries from his wonderful, touching book Tattoos on the Heart. Sometimes it makes you cry because the stories are so deeply moving, and sometimes you laugh out loud bec ..read more

Stage One A Warm Fire in Your Heart Metta can accurately be compared with a warm and radiant fire burning in your heart. You cannot expect to light the fire of loving-kindness by starting with a difficult object, no more than you can expect to light a campfire by striking a match under a thick log. So do not begin metta meditation by trying to spread metta to yourself or to an enemy. Instead begin by spreading loving-kindness to something that is easy to ignite with loving-kindness, or what I like to call kindfulness. Kindfulness enables you to embrace other beings—as well as yourself—just as ..read more

Al iniciar la práctica del Zen, muchas personas se identifican con el maestro chino Mazu (709 – 788). Mazu, o Baso en japonés, fue uno de los primeros maestros del Zen chino (Chan) cuyas enseñanzas vibrantes y directas que invitaban a ver el Buda en nuestra propia mente y a practicar el camino del budismo zen en la vida ordinaria, convocaron a muchos discípulos dando origen a uno de los más importantes linajes del Zen.  Mazu, al comenzar su instrucción como monje, un día practicaba zazen con tal determinación que cuando su maestro Huairang lo observó, dijo: – ¿Qué haces? – Estoy haciendo ..read more

When Siddhartha Gautama gave his first teaching after enlightenment, it was to five friends in the deer park at Sarnath, not far from Varanasi in the Ganges Valley. Wanting to transmit to them the essence of his breakthrough, he crystallized his insights into what would become known as the four noble truths. These include the truth of the way out of suffering, known as the noble eightfold path: right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. The eightfold path offers a way to touch awakening as Gautama did. Thes ..read more

“Go placidly amid the noise and the haste and remember what peace there may be in silence.” With this sentence the German-American writer Max Ehrmann began “Desiderata.” My mother appreciated this poem so much that she hung a framed copy across from the toilet in our bathroom, and for years I found myself reflecting on it several times a day in a contemplative position. Was this the origin of my quest for equanimity? The idea makes me smile. Equanimity is like the eye of the storm, the calm center grounded in the knowledge that everything is constantly changing. What is equanimity, and how can ..read more

Pregunta: Tengo dos hijos, uno de siete años y otro de catorce. Me gustaría iniciarles en la meditación y las enseñanzas budistas, pero es difícil competir contra los juegos de Nintendo, sus programas de televisión favoritos y todas las demás cosas emocionantes y llamativas que atraen a los niños hoy en día. ¿Cómo puedo compartir el regalo del dharma con mis hijos sin tratar de forzarlos o inclusive alejarlos?  Pictured: Zenkei Blanche Hartman, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche & Narayan Helen Liebenson. Zenkei Blanche Hartman: Mi primera sugerencia es que cuides tu propia práctica para que cu ..read more

Rev. Blayne Higa is the Resident Minister of the Kona Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, a Shin Buddhist sangha on the Big Island of Hawaii. Cathryn Dhanatya is cofounder and president/CEO of Growing Good Inc., a professional services firm that partners with nonprofit organizations and companies who aim to do good in the world. She has lived and worked on five continents, earned her PhD in Social Science and Comparative Education from UCLA, and has led and conducted research on media and technology as it relates to health issues around the globe. Chenxing Han is the author of Be the Refuge: Raising th ..read more

Growing up in America as a first-generation immigrant was a challenge. I never quite felt like I fully belonged. I was “too American” to be fully Thai and too “Thai” to be fully American. My parents are devout Theravada Buddhists, and they practice Buddhist rituals as a means of connecting to their Thai-ness and to ease the longing for their distant homeland. These daily rituals are anchors in their lives. Just like they did when I was growing up, my octogenarian parents still pray every day. They make food for religious offerings to the Lord Buddha statue in their home, and they listen to Bud ..read more