Category Buddhism

If we’re able to catch an angry thought as it’s budding, we can let it go. The same is true of despair or hopelessness. And when letting go is too difficult, a good medicine for dealing with these emotions is…

We have to remember to be patient, not to have expectations. Then one day we will find ourselves understanding suffering, knowing its origins, observing it, and watching it end. -Ayya Medhanandi Bhikkhuni, “The Dharma of Snow”

Renunciation is realizing that our nostalgia for wanting to stay in a protected, limited, petty world is insane. Once you begin to get the feeling of how big the world is and how vast our potential for experiencing life is,…

It is important to realize that to identify oneself as a meditator or a spiritual person or even a Buddhist can be another way to get caught or lose one’s true balance. This is like carrying a raft on your…

Being free of fear is not a matter of never feeling it, but of not being flattened when we do. We can feel it and know it is a natural phenomenon, also an impermanent one, which will have its say…

The beautiful thing about having less obsessions and ambitions—and just sitting straight and watching the breathing—is that nothing will disturb us. Things only disturb us when we have an aim. When we have an aim, we become obsessed. Say our…

If we want to succeed in life and bring about a more peaceful world, we must learn to control our emotions and not to be affected by a moment of anger. —Master Hsing Yun, “Don’t Get Mad, Don’t Get Even”

As we become more familiar with our thoughts in meditation, we will see how repetitive our thoughts are. We often think very similar things over and over again and it is actually rare to have what I would call a…

Meditation is learning how to be present and aware of what’s going on and learning to be able to distinguish between your judgment about a moment in time and the actual experience. —Interview with Tuere Sala by Wendy Biddlecombe Agsar,…

In being told we’re good when we’re helpful, we receive the praise we crave. Yet once we confuse helpful behavior with our own needs, we’re locked into a pattern that undermines our genuine desire to do good. —Ezra Bayda, “The…