Reading Archives (Author)
Finding the Fire
Okay, so once there was this cow lying in a field. And it mooed and mooed and mooed. A passer-by asked the farmer, "Why is your cow...
Give Thee My All
I had gone a-begging from door to door in the village path when thy golden chariot appeared in the distance like a gorgeous dream and I...
The Practice of Happiness
1. Give yourself permission to be human. When we accept emotions -- such as fear, sadness, or anxiety -- as natural, we are more likely...
The Sacred Art of Pausing
In our lives we often find ourselves in situations we can’t control, circumstances in which none of our strategies work. Helpless...
En-Lightening
And as I want for Words to come, Ideas to flow, Pain to go, I suffer my judgment of what is so. And as I will for Me to mend,...
Genie Cannot Return To The Bottle
The genie cannot return to the bottle, because the inside is the outside now. It seemed so safe and comfortable inside, familiar from...
Clinging Causes the Pain
Genuine love and kindness is desperately needed in this world. It comes from appreciating the object, and rejoicing in the object,...
Three Kinds of Laziness
The Buddha described three kinds of laziness. First there is the kind of laziness we all know: we don't want to do anything, and...
Neighbors Are Our Practice
Meditation is only one of the many qualities that is emphasized. It's a very important one because we have to understand our mind, and we...
A Heart Of Warmth Is Not Something Impossible
What does love mean? In the West, we mistake the meaning of love; we bandy the word around all the time, from “I love...
Like The Sun Shining
Sometimes people don't understand how Buddhism can talk about compassion and love in one breath and non-attachment and all these...
A Whole New Dimension Of Love
Everything is flowing. And this flow isn’t made up only of external things. It includes relationships, too. Some relationships last...
Why Not Be Ready?
Our everyday life is our spiritual life. If we have awareness to be able to use our everyday life as practice, then our lives have...
Awake or Asleep
The beauty of this day awakens within me. The ocean tides in my eyes wash over my cheeks with the surprise glimpse of the elegance of the...
Wisdom Of Grieving
Not only is grieving a stage of the spiritual activist’s journey, but the grieving process itself often unfolds in stages, which...
No Mistake is Fatal
Our minds are pretty chaotic systems, which is why following the middle way is so difficult. It's so easy for a chaotic system to get...
Deciding What You Want to Keep
Look at your life in the same way you’d look through an attic, deciding what you’re going to keep, what you’re going to...
Beyond Being Present
All that past and all that future weigh down this one little moment here in the present: No wonder the present buckles under the weight....
Reality Poses No Danger
Things that are real pose no danger to the mind. The real dangers in the mind are our delusions, the things we make up, the things we use...
Dignity of Restraint
A word that tends to disappear from common vocabulary is restraint: foregoing certain pleasures, not because we have to, but because they...
On Perfection and Priority
Determination seems to underlie all the perfections [of the mind]. There are four aspects to determination. You use...
Stay With The Breath
Put aside your old ways of using your eyes and ears and nose, tongue, body, and mind to focus on issues outside there in the world, to...
Learning Not to Be Afraid of Things That Are Real
Recently I've been looking through a field guide on nature observation. The author, when he was a child, was trained by an old Native...
Equanimity Of Doctor, Hunter, Warrior
There are three types of equanimity. First is the equanimity that realizes how even though you may have goodwill for all beings and...
A Meditator's Bag of Tricks
Meditation is not just a question of technique. In training the mind, you have to remember there's a whole committee in there. In the...
The Grain of the Wood
There are two sides to the path of practice: the side of developing and the side of letting go. And it's important that you see the...
The Committee of the Mind
There are many different ideas of “you” in your mind, each with its own agenda. Each of these “you's” is a...
Stop Shooting Arrows
The Buddha compares pain with being shot by arrows. Physical pain is like being shot with one arrow, but then on top of that you shoot...
Being Judicious, not Judgmental
One of the most difficult but necessary skills we need to develop as meditators is learning how to be judicious without being judgmental....
A Prayer
Blessed are the man and woman Who have grown Beyond their greed And have put an end to their hatred...
Lessening the Power of Negative Emotions
I profoundly believe that real spiritual change comes about not by merely praying or wishing that all negative aspects of our minds...
The Dalai Lama: Why I Laugh
I have been confronted with many difficulties throughout the course of my life, and my country is going through a critical period. But I...
Violence and Nonviolence
"What is violence? What is nonviolence?" the Dalai Lama had once asked me in one of our interviews in Dharamsala. "Very...
A Map To Here
Many people tend to see spiritual awakening as a challenge, goal or spiritual destination  -- something to be achieved or accomplished....
The Call To Adventure
We are in a very special situation, extremely special, without precedent. We are now witnessing the birth of a new world; it is very...
The Matrix
"Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain. But you feel...
Who Is The One That Counts?
It is not the critic who counts; not the (one) who points out how the strong (person) stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have...
Call Me by My True Names
Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow because even today I still arrive. Look deeply: I arrive in every second to be a bud on a...
Interbeing
Emptiness does not mean nothingness. Saying that we are empty does not mean that we do not exist. No matter if something is full or...
Five Prayers
In gratitude, I bow to all generations of ancestors in my blood family. I see my mother and father, whose blood, flesh, and vitality are...
You've Been Nirvanized Since The Nonbeginning
Who can say that your mother has passed away? You cannot describe her as being or nonbeing, alive or dead, because these notions belong...
Kernel Of Corn
There was a patient in the mental hospital [in Vietnam] who seemed to be normal. He ate and talked like other people. But he believed...
From Me To We: True Love Is A Process Of Humility
A community of people walking together on a spiritual path has a great deal of strength; its members are able to protect each other, to...
See The Universe In A Sunflower
I live in Plum Village, in the Dordogne region of southwest France, an area known for its sunflowers. But people who come to Plum Village...
When Light Shines, Darkness Becomes The Light
From time to time you may become restless, and the restlessness will not go away. At such times, just sit quietly, follow your breathing,...
Fearlessness
Most of us experience a life full of wonderful moments and difficult moments. But for many of us, even when we are most joyful, there is...
Renaissance
This morning, at sunrise, a new bud appeared on the tree. It was born around midnight. The bark, the skin of the tree, split...
Do You Have Time To Love?
To love is, above all, to be there. But being there is not an easy thing. Some training is necessary, some practice. If you are not...
Dandelion Has My Smile
If in our daily lives we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. If we really know...
Bridging Practice and Non-Practice
We have many compartments in our lives. When we practice sitting meditation and when we do not practice sitting, these two periods of...
Clear and Present Compassion
Understanding and compassion are very powerful sources of energy. They are the opposite of stupidity and passivity. If you think that...
Still Arriving
Don't say that I will depart tomorrow--even today I am still arriving. Look deeply: every second I am arriving to be a bud on a Spring...
Clouds In Each Paper
If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain;...
The Blooming of the Offering Within You
A poem is a flower you offer to people. A compassionate look, a smile, an act filled with loving-kindness is also a flower that blooms on...
Smile a Lot
Life is filled with suffering, but it is also filled with many wonders, like the blue sky, the sunshine, the eyes of a baby. To suffer...
Nature and Nonviolence
You don’t discriminate between the seed and the plant. You see that they ‘inter-are’ with each other, that they are...
On Meditation
"During meditation, various feelings and thoughts may arise. If you don't practice mindfulness of breath, these thoughts will soon...
Ancient Law of Hospitality
Perhaps our greatest resource for peace is in an awareness that we enrich ourselves when we share our possessions with others. We...
Opening To Greater Life
Tell the [future generations] that something new is happening, a new vision, a new energy, a new sacred story is coming into being in the...
A Question of Story
For peoples, generally, their story of the Universe and the human role within the universe is their primary source of intelligibility and...
The Cosmology of Peace
The issue of interhuman tension is secondary to earth-human tensions. If humans will not become functional members of the earth...
Hosting The Pain Of The World
When we begin to access fields of collective trauma to begin the healing process together, we often become aware of those who...
Can Love Make Progress?
The idea that humans can make progress strikes some as naïve. With every war and its chaotic aftermath, looming ecological...
The Hardest and Most Courageous Act
We do not live merely to "do something" –- no matter what. Activity is just one of the normal expressions of life, and the life it...
The Self Is Not A Thing, But A Process
The body and the mind are constantly changing. Nothing in us is ever really the same from one moment to the next. Yet the self represents...
Tale Of The Ringless Ring
Nasrudin was a spiritual leader and teacher in a small village. He was honored and respected as a mullah, although he was rather unusual...
Eloquence Of Silence
If you have rich empty oases in you, places for refreshment and pause, you can more likely enjoy a happy life. If you see a stunning...
Many Schooled But Few Educated
If busyness is an emotional complex, then it's likely that when we are busiest, we are doing least. We can be extremely active without...
Freely vs Free
Today, after receiving acupuncture during my donation based shift, a patient asked me why I was “giving away” such amazing...
Space To Heal
Healing requires space. As we plow through day to day life, we dream about finding a time when there will be space to heal,...
Seeking To Understand
My friend Julie and her husband argue about the “right” way to do laundry: he loads the washing machine with dirty clothes,...
Fueled By Love
When a parent sees their child is about to be attacked by someone, it doesn't matter how peaceful and calm they...
Gratitude
A good turn done is a heaven-born gift you cherish Ask 'Will (they) repay it?' and it'll perish A helpful act howsoever...
The Boss And The Attendants
The great masters, in ancient times, not only had visions of the Higher Force, they were also very practical. Their teachings are simple:...
Die Empty
I remember a meeting in which a friend asked a strange and unexpected question: “What do you think is the most valuable land in the...
In Hardship, Choose Bewilderment Over Cleverness
In grappling with degenerative autoimmune disease, I often wished for a speedy redemption, for something meaningful to come out of my...
No Rush, No Dawdle: The Secret Of Proper Timing
The present is truly the only place we exist. What we call the past is a construct of memory, the recollection of which constitutes a...
One-Minute Excellence
One-minute excellence. I can sense the curling of your lips. While such a catchphrase makes me shudder, too, it contains a gem waiting to...
Be Your Own Story
Go out and save the world. That is to suggest to you that with energy and right thinking you can certainly improve, certainly you might...
It Is Your Responsibility
Once upon a time there was an old woman. Blind. Wise. One day the woman is visited by some young people who seem to be bent on...
Freely Functioning in Wisdom
Awareness is there, uncreated, freely functioning in wisdom and love, when self-centered conditioning is clearly revealed in all its...
Automatic Reactions
There are two aspects of quiet sitting, or meditative inquiry, if you will, which are not mutually exclusive. Description and language...
Who is 'me'?
A somber day, isn't it? Dark, cloudy, cool, moist and windy. Amazing, this whole affair of "the weather!" We call it "weather," but what...
Growth Only Comes When You Transform
Ultimately, the only way to be fulfilled is to constantly grow and to contribute in a meaningful way to other people, to the world. And...
You Are Not Alone
The dark season is here in the Northern Hemisphere. And maybe it is dark for you inside as well as outside. You may feel lonely or in...
Touching the Earth
In the great myth of the Buddha’s journey, there came a point when he is completely overwhelmed. As he sits meditating under the...
I Have No Need For An Enemy
In passing my sentence, the judge said, “There’s no hope that you can ever be rehabilitated.” My sentence of 60-90...