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…

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…

Just the other day I found myself in the all-too-familiar situation of trying to explain what I do when I meditate to a curious and inquiring stranger. I’m sure this has happened to you before…You know, you’re sitting on the bus or in a coffee shop and you strike up a friendly conversation with someone next to you. One thing leads to another, and before you know it you’ve let it slip that you meditate. Then comes that slightly tense moment as you wait to find out whether or not the other person thinks you’re a total wacko and if you need to try and change the subject to something safer…like sports or IKEA.

This time it was a little bit different though…

I’ve been meditating now for over 15 years. It’s one of the most important things in my life and also one of my favorite things to avoid.

My alarm is set for 5:45 am…I think. The theory is to have enough time to do at least an hour of meditation in the morning before I seize the day. What often happens is...

Recently I was watching a movie called, “The Peaceful Warrior” about a young athlete at a California University who happens upon a spiritual mystic and teacher in the guise of an old mechanic working at the neighborhood gas station. One of his mysterious guru’s most pointed messages is that we completely miss out on life because we’re always distracted by thoughts of past and future. At one point he takes his student to a park and asks him to take a look around. The student replies, “There’s nothing going on here,” At which point the teacher takes the student by the shoulder and miraculously transforms his perception.

Just last weekend in Nepal, I attended a public teaching on meditation with a well-known young Tibetan teacher at a picturesque temple situated in the hills above Kathmandu. The following extract comes from memory, but I thought it would be worth sharing.

“What is the essence of meditation?” asked Mingyur Rinpoche, with eyes twinkling and a smile ready to break across his face.

A variety of creative answers drifted back from the audience, which was made up of about 100 people: Americans, Tibetans, Chinese, and Europeans, all packed into a colorful medium-sized shrine room on a comfortably cool morning.

After listening to several honorable attempts to answer his question, Rinpoche continued, “Those are all good answers. But, the real essence of meditation is...

A few weeks ago I travelled to South Asia to investigate something I know very little about:

My own mind.

After a couple long flights and a dusty taxi ride, I arrived at a small retreat center in Nepal. In no time I discovered that the internet has indeed made its way to every corner of the globe and that I could still get online. So with great excitement I checked e-mail, BBC World News and half a dozen other sites including, of course, the latest college basketball scores. However, after an hour or two, I remembered my mission, closed facebook and skype, shut my computer, and sat down…for quite a while.