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Mindfulness & Awareness Conference - Video On Demand
Written by Christian KohlBringing wisdom into society This conference held in Lerab Ling in May 2015 was a great success. It brought together some of the world’s most renowned meditation teachers and key… -
A meeting of eastern and western sciences of mind
Written by Marieke van VugtLast fall I had the amazing opportunity to travel to India to participate in the Science for Monks programme. Science for monks is a project that has been established by… -
Mindfulness & Awareness : Bringing Wisdom Into Society - Lerab Ling 14–17 may 2015
Written by Christian KohlThis conference brings together some of the world's most renowned meditation teachers and key figures in business, health and education to explore what happens when we get to know our… -
Mapping my mind: a summer doing contemplative science
Written by Marieke van VugtLast summer, I was lucky enough to spend almost 2 months as a visiting scholar at the Mind & Life Visiting Scholar house in Amherst, Massachusetts. In this house, scientists… -
How should we conduct research on contemplative science? News from the first European Mind & Life Summer Research Institute
Written by Marieke van VugtI attended the first European Mind & Life Summer Research Institute. These institutes are designed to bring together researchers, philosophers, practitioners, and clinicians to talk about how to engage in… -
Creating a compassionate organization
Written by Marieke van VugtThe second day of the Meditation & Human Values in the Workplace conference moved from the individual to the organizational level. We started out by hearing from Federico Daini-Jôkô Procopio,… -
How to practically embody a strong personal ethics in the workplace
Written by Marieke van VugtOn the last day of the conference, Monique de Knop shared her experience in being a top manager in the Belgian government. She dissected what wisdom in the workplace really… -
Meditation and Human Values at the Workplace?
Written by Marieke van VugtWith economic crises and various corporate scandals under our belt you may wonder whether meditation and human values actually exist in the workplace. Right now a group of people is… -
Who Meditates at Work?
Written by Steve CopeDo you start your work meetings with a couple of minutes of meditation? This morning, I talked with a teacher who has just introduced meditation into her classroom. "The great… -
The Great and Curious Truth: Cultivating Compassion, The Contemplative Approach
Written by Steve CopePatrick Gaffney is one of the leading authorities on the contemplation and practice of compassion in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and I was lucky enough to hear him speak at… -
Read This Book!: The Compassionate Mind Approach to Reducing Stress by Maureen Cooper
Written by Erric SolomonFor the last month or so I have been reading Maureen Cooper’s fabulous new book, The Compassionate Mind Approach to Reducing Stress Reducing Stress. Combining an authentically Buddhist approach with…
To give your sheep or cow a large, spacious meadow is the way to control him. If you want to attain perfect calmness in your zazen [meditation], you should not be bothered by the various images you find in your mind. Let them come, and let them go. Then they will be under control.
Suzuki Roshi
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7 Common Emotional Obstacles in Meditation and How to Dissolve Them
When you set out to learn meditation, your emotional patterns will delightfully come along. In fact, they will probably be your first and fiercest obstacles to overcome. While you may consistently falter due to their incessant influence, you may not even notice given how unconscious and instantaneous these responses have become.
Are any of these seven common tendencies dampening your meditation?
Perfectionism. An intense drive to clarify every element of the instruction and apply the methods faultlessly. Comes with a long list of questions on how to do it right, a furrowed brow, and muscle tension. Don't confuse the methods with meditation itself. Meditation transforms the ambiance of the mind. An over focus on technique constrains it.
How Quickly Can You Change Your Mind?
Bringing Compassion into Everyday Life
One can practice compassion both on and off the cushion. Here I offer a simple sitting meditation practice as well as 10 informal exercises for bringing compassion into your daily life. Pretty soon, the distinction between these modes of practice loses meaning. All of life becomes practice.
What Laziness Really Is
If you’re already on your cushion and working to tame your wild mind through meditation, then please congratulate yourself because you have already accomplished quite a lot.
If not, then you might want to read this…
Meditation, Understanding and Love
Not long ago I came across this very simple statement from the Buddha in a book by the great Vietnamese teacher Thich Nhat Hanh:
Love is understanding.
I find this to be such a beautiful statement and I think it reveals a lot about how the practice of meditation can change the world and make us more loving. Here are a few reflections…
Confessions of a Buddhist Slacker: House Painting
This post was sent into us from Cynthia Choi, enjoy the post!
I’m sitting on my cushion, looking out the sliding glass doors at the valley below. The trees are bare. The land is sighing peacefully, catching its breath before winter. I fervently resolve to meditate on equanimity so that, for the sake of others, I may attain complete enlightenment.
When Things Fall Apart
What a relief! The last eclipse of the year occurs today. But there’s more to come next year!
An eclipse can trigger sudden, irrevocable change in your life that comes about due to external circumstances.
Yikes! Unexpected change. The kind of change that can make your head spin in disbelief and leave your knees knocking loudly.
Fortunately, every eclipse doesn’t effect every person so dramatically.
But still, you can’t escape change forever. There’s also the unfolding of karma - the fruition of your past actions - which can also twist your world around in abrupt and surprising ways.
Change will arrive in this lightning-like way at some point in your life. What will you do?
A plea for social responsibility
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche shares a few words with our WhatMeditationReallyIs.com community.
The wisdom of Loving Kindness
Sharon Salzberg from the 'Wisdom of Awareness' Retreat with Sogyal Rinpoche and Tsoknyi Rinpoche, June 2011 (Garrison Institute, New York), she talks about the importance of a loving attitude in our modern society.