Showing posts with label Norman Fischer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Norman Fischer. Show all posts

Life is Tough: Six Ways to Deal With It - The March 2013 Shambhala Sun magazine

Featuring Norman Fischer on six ancient Buddhist slogans that can help transform life's difficulties into awakening and benefit, tales of trauma and transformation from Buddhist practitioners, and a profile of three psychotherapists who combine Western psychology and Buddhism into a powerful path to love and fulfillment.

Plus: a survey of the world of Buddhist-inspired popular music, Rick Bass on friendship and eco-warriorship, and much more.

feature section: life is tough / here's how to deal with it

• Life is Tough: Six Ways to Deal With It

An ancient set of Buddhist slogans offers us six powerful techniques to transform life’s difficulties into awakening and benefit. Zen teacher Norman Fischer guides us through them.

• Mind Training for Today

Norman Fischer on why 52 sayings formulated almost a thousand years ago are more relevant than ever.

• When Ego Meets Non-Ego

Andrea Miller talks to Tara Brach, John Welwood, and Barry Magid, three psychotherapists who are combining Western psychology and Buddhism into a powerful path to love and fulfillment.

• Tales of Trauma and Transformation

Inspiring stories and helpful methods. Preview these via the links below.

• Ruth Ozeki: Nothing is Wasted • Josh Korda: Every Day a Reprieve • Margaret Roach: The Gift of Connection • John Tarrant: You Don't Have to Know

more features

• Ruin, Beasties, & Constant Craving

Jazz, metal, rap, and beyond: Rod Meade Sperry reports on the intersection of Buddhism and popular music. Featuring Tina Turner, Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, Born I Music , and more fascinating dharma-music innovators.

• The Best Place 

Rick Bass showed his friend Scott the best places, the secret places, of Montana’s remote Yaak Valley. Together, they fought to protect the wilderness and dreamed of a new Atlantis in the mountains.

• Spirit and The Boy

Mother to one, sister to the other—award-winning novelist Karen Connelly on three interwoven lives and the call she will always accept.


• The Supreme Thought 

The intention to benefit all sentient beings is the best of all thoughts, says Sakyong Mipham. Dedicating ourselves to others, we become bodhisattvas.
RELATED SHAMBHALA SUN SPOTLIGHT:

• Sakyong Mipham: His best from the Shambhala Sun

• This Whole World is a Poem

This oriole, this friend, this daughter, this fox—Michael Sowder on all the poems that are just waiting for us to write them down.

• The Most Valuable Cups in the World

Leanora McLellan’s grandma handed down many skills and four crazy cups that have no price.

• What's Your Verdict?

Recognizing the judgments we all pass on ourselves, says Bonnie Friedman, is the first step to freedom.

• Review: "Loving-Kindness for Your Body"

Diana Winston reviews May I Be Happy: A Memoir of Love, Yoga and Changing My Mind, by Cyndi Lee.

 • Books in Brief

Andrea Miller reviews new books by Marc Lesser, Jeffrey K. Mann, Rachel Neumann, Zachiah Murray, and more.

• About a Poem: Roger Housden on Ellen Bass' "If You Knew"


Shambhala Sun, March 2013, Volume Twenty One, Number 4. On the cover: Inset #1 by Frank Yang, #2 by Randy Beacham

 

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January 2013 Shambhala Sun magazine

Shambhala Sun

Inside the January 2013 Shambhala Sun magazine

Featuring Thich Nhat Hanh in "the country of the present moment"; next-gen Buddhists on their struggles and successes; tough talk from about Buddhism from Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche; Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche's dharma art teachings and more.

this issue's editorial:
• Enlighten Us

"Our task," writes Shambhala Sun Editor-in-Chief Melvin McLeod, "is the development of genuine dharma in the modern world, and the seeds we plant now are vitally important."


feature section: thich nhat hanh at plum village

• In the Country of the Present Moment

Andrea Miller visits Plum Village in France to explore how Thich Nhat Hanh's community is practicing the five mindfulness trainings. Could these be the basis of a better, kinder world?

• Creating an Enlightened Society

Now more than ever, says Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, we need a new global ethic of compassion, understanding, and peace. Buddhism can help.

• You Don't Need to Be a Buddhist

Thich Nhat Hanh tells Andrea Miller that anyone can use the five mindfulness trainings.

Shambhala Sun
RELATED SHAMBHALA SUN SPOTLIGHT:

• Thich Nhat Hanh: His best from the Shambhala Sun

more features

• Not for Happiness

If it feels too good, it's probably not Buddhism. According to Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, real-deal dharma involves painful honesty, uncomfortable change, and serious transformation.

• Unconditional Beauty 

Painting, calligraphy, photography and flower arranging—all in the service of a creative, genuine life. Honoring the 25th anniversary of his death, we present the dharma art teachings and artworks of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

RELATED SHAMBHALA SUN SPOTLIGHT:• The Teachings of Chögyam Trungpa


• No Gap: Writings from the Under 35 Project

Reflections from Ben Hutchison, Subha Srinivasan, Stacy Chivers, Susan Yao, Jenna Hollenstein, Brian Otto Kimmel and more young and gifted Buddhist practitioners.


• We Need to Be Warriors 

The world needs people who are wholeheartedly engaged with life, says Sakyong Mipham. That takes bravery.


RELATED SHAMBHALA SUN SPOTLIGHT:

• Sakyong Mipham: His best from the Shambhala Sun

• Please Come Back

That was Melody Ermachild Chavis' prayer, until she finally accepted that her father would never return. But had he been there for her all along?

• With Mindfulness You're Less Likely to Kill the Person Holding Up the Line

A Q&A with Seth Greenland, author of The Angry Buddhist, a novel that offers a steamy mix of murder, manga kitten tattoos, and a fierce congressional election.

• Dancing in Foam & Other Adventures

They say that wherever you go, there you are. But as Anne Cushman discovers in Spain, it's also true that travel gives you a fresh take on yourself.

• Love and Emptiness

Norman Fischer reviews The Heart Attack Sutra: A New Commentary on the Heart Sutra, by Karl Brunnhölzl, and Thunderous Silence: A Practical Guide to the Heart Sutra, by Dosung Yoo.

• Books in Brief

Andrea Miller reviews new books by Mary Paterson, Stephen Cope, Thubten Chodron, and more.
• About a Poem: Red Pine on Ch'eng Hao's "Casual Poem on a Spring Day"

Plus: The Mindful Society: Dispatches from the Mindful Revolution, from the editors of MINDFUL.



Shambhala Sun, January 2013, Volume Twenty One, Number 3.

To order a trial subscription to the Shambhala Sun, click here.

ON THE COVER: Thich Nhat Hanh. Photo by Neeraj Paul. Source: The Times of India Group © BCCL
Shambhala Sun
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The November 2012 Shambhala Sun magazine

Featuring Pema Chödrön on the compassionate life of the bodhisattva-warrior; three woman teachers changing Buddhism; Norman Fischer on how to live in our topsy-turvy world; three steps to creative power; a Jewish Buddhist in Germany, and more.
Also inside: "Jolly Good" — a never-before-published piece by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche on the Shambhala teachings.

this issue's editorial:
• We Can Be Heroes

By Shambhala Sun Associate Editor Rod Meade Sperry


feature section: pema chödrön / "a greater happiness"

• A Greater Happiness

We've all got the potential to awaken and help others in meaningful ways, big and small. Pema Chödrön shows us how we can let go of self-centered worries and become a bodhisattva-warrior. It's the greatest happiness of all.

• You Can Do It!

Make your vow to help others real with this tonglen meditation teaching from Pema Chödrön.


• Thank You, Pema

Best-selling author Margaret Wheatley on her friend and teacher.




RELATED SHAMBHALA SUN SPOTLIGHT:• Pema Chödrön

• Enter... the Bodhisattva

David Loy says the bodhisattva ideal — updated for modern times — is what the world needs now.


more features

• Feminine Principal

Andrea Miller profiles Trudy Goodman, Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara and Lama Palden Drolma, three women teachers who are changing the face of Buddhism. (You'll also find a teaching from each inside the magazine.)

RELATED SHAMBHALA SUN SPOTLIGHT:• Women and Gender Politics in Buddhism

• The Great Perfection of Creativity 

Geshe Tenzin Wangyal teaches us how to unleash powerful creative energy we can use anywhere from the office to the artist's studio.




• Don't Go There 

As a Jew and a Briton, Henry Shukman had avoided all things German. But as a Buddhist, he knew he had to when he was asked to teach at a zendo in the Black Forest. Together, he and his students faced the unfaceable.

RELATED SHAMBHALA SUN SPOTLIGHT:• Buddhism and Judaism

• The Vagabond Queen of Craigslist 

Hopscotching through Brooklyn apartments, Bonnie Friedman discovers the delight in nonattachment.



PLUS: we continue our year-long celebration of the Shambhala Sun's founder, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, with a series of never-before-published teachings. In this issue: Rinpoche on the Shambhala teachings.

RELATED SHAMBHALA SUN SPOTLIGHT:• The Teachings of Chögyam Trungpa

other voices

 

• An ICU for the Soul 

When a friend is dealt a heavy emotional blow, Pico Iyer suggests to her that silence and stillness might be the best medicine. Sometimes, it seems, you've got to retreat before you can move forward.

RELATED SHAMBHALA SUN SPOTLIGHT:• Pico Iyer in the Shambhala Sun

• Something to Believe In

While belief can be just dogma or preconception, it can also be a guiding polestar that gives us a sense of direction. Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel on the power of belief to move us out of a small, self-focused world and into a bigger way of being.

• Is This Worth It?

Sara Eckel discovers that volunteering isn't about getting back more than you give. It's just about giving.


• Topsy-Turvy World

The strength of mind that comes from meditation, says Norman Fischer, can help us end the denial that keeps a world of problems spinning.


departments

• No-Self 2.0

Andrew Olendzki reviews The Self Illusion: How the Social Brain Creates Identity by Bruce Hood.



• Books in Brief

Andrea Miller reviews books by Bhante Gunaratana, Thich Nhat Hanh, Lew Welch, and more.


• About a Poem: Carole Glasser Langille on Czeslaw Milosz's "Love"

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

The Mindful Society: Dispatches from the Mindful Revolution, from the editors of MINDFUL.

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Shambhala Sun, November 2012, Volume Twenty One, Number 2.

To order a trial subscription to the Shambhala Sun, click here.

ON THE COVER: Bhikshuni Pema Chödrön. Photo by Robin Holland.
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Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly - summer 2011

Gaining Perspective 

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 at 12:13PM
When you’re caught in your habitual patterns, says Joan Sutherland, try not to fixate on your reactions. Instead cultivate awareness of everything that is happening in the moment. 
Sometimes it can seem as though being human is a problem that spiritual practice is meant to solve. But Buddhist meditative and related practices actually have a different focus: developing our human faculties to see more clearly the true nature of things, so that we can participate in and respond to how things are in a more generous and helpful way. Our individual awakenings become part of the world’s awakening. This means leaning into life, and to do that we have to recognize what gets in the way. For each of us, this is likely to include certain habitual patterns of thinking and feeling in reaction to what we encounter.
Meditation and inquiry are methods, ways to have direct experiences of the deepest insights of our tradition—of the interpermeation of all things and the way things, including our habitual reactions, rise into existence for awhile and then fall away again. Everything is provisional, and everything influences everything else.
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Getting to Know Your Inner Critic

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 at 12:09PM
Jan Chozen Bays explains how to recognize and tame the critical commentary we replay in our minds.

Once when the Buddha was injured by an enemy, he spent hours meditating on the physical sensations of pain, without giving in to mental or emotional distress. Finally he lay down to rest. Mara the Evil One appeared and berated him. “Why are you lying down? Are you in a daze or drunk? Don’t you have any goals to accomplish?” The Buddha recognized Mara and said, “I’m not drunk or in a daze. I’ve reached the goal and am free of sorrow. I lie down full of compassion for living beings.” Then Mara, sad and disappointed, disappeared.
In this story Mara is depicted as an external entity. However, I have found that the most insidious obstacle actually arises from within. It is called the Inner Critic. If left unrecognized and unchecked, it creates a pattern of negative inner comments that can undermine our well-being and destroy our creativity, attacking our work when we’ve written just a few sentences, sung just a few notes, or painted only few strokes. Even worse, it can destroy our spiritual practice.
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On Your Mark, Get Set… Don’t Go

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 at 12:07PM
Chönyi Taylor presents a meditation to familiarize yourself with the triggers that set off addictive behaviors.
The triggers for our addictions are those things or thoughts that set off an automatic reaction in such a way that we find ourselves in our addictive pattern without knowing how we got there.
The triggers might be external, or internal, or both. An external event such as a song can set off an internal trigger such as loneliness. We may not be aware of hearing the song, just that the feeling of loneliness has welled up again and we want to escape from it. We may not be aware of the loneliness, just the thought of wanting to fix some dissatisfaction. We may not be aware of the dissatisfaction, just of taking or doing whatever will ease it. We may not even be aware of what we’re doing, but then suddenly realize we are back in the grip of addiction.
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Reconnecting With Ourselves

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 at 11:59AM
In order to heal our painful habits, says Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, we need to turn our attention inward and reconnect with our experience through stillness, silence, and spaciousness.
Through the negative, habitual patterns of distraction and restlessness, we frequently disconnect from ourselves. As a result, we are often depleted, for we do not fully receive what life offers, what nature offers, or what other people offer, and we don’t recognize opportunities to benefit others.
You may be sitting on a bench in a beautiful park, yet not be seeing the trees, hearing the birds, or smelling the blossoms. Perhaps you are distracted with your cellphone or worrying about something, and though you are breathing you may have no actual relationship to your body, your speech, your mind, or to the park. I refer to this as sitting on a rotten karmic cushion.
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Let’s Be Realistic

Monday, May 16, 2011 at 1:06PM
Chan Master Sheng Yen reminds us not to be discouraged that we haven’t attained enlightenment. After all, we’re only human.
After practicing buddhadharma for a while and listening to lectures about liberation and freedom, some people feel very frustrated if they have not gained realization. They forget that it takes a very long time to evolve from being an ordinary person to being a buddha.
Some people like to talk about the deepest dharma—the dharma of the buddhas and bodhisattvas—but not so much about dharma for ordinary people. When the teaching is pitched too high, it can discourage people because it can be too difficult to accomplish. In this situation, the more people study buddhadharma, the more frustrated they can become. But if we realistically apply standards appropriate to ordinary human beings, if we use dharma as our guide and strive to accomplish what ordinary humans can, this wisdom can lead us to the other shore.
Since there are different levels of freedom and different levels of liberation, most people cannot expect to be liberated from everything all at once. This must be achieved gradually.
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Inside the Shamatha Project

Monday, May 16, 2011 at 1:04PM
Adeline Van Waning, a psychiatrist and Buddhist practitioner, takes us inside a groundbreaking study that explores the effects of meditation on the brain and one’s overall well-being.
When I first heard of the Shamatha Project, I felt like some of my deep longings were coming together. For quite some time I had wanted to participate in a meditation retreat that lasted several months. Combining this with cognitive and affective neuroscience and psychological research offered an extra dimension for me as a psychiatrist, and an opportunity to participate in contemplative history in the making. The ad said, “Meditate to advance science—be part of this groundbreaking neuroscience research project exploring the relationship between meditation and well-being.”
I was selected and in September of 2007 found myself sitting in a shrine room with twenty-nine others, surrounded by colorful thangkas. We were quickly immersed in Buddhist perspectives and meditation instructions from the Tibetan tradition, and within a few days we were also thrown into the language and agency of Western science—measuring our skin resistance and hormone levels, and meditating with EEG (electroencephalogram) caps on our heads.
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Beyond All Attachment

Monday, May 16, 2011 at 12:47PM
It’s not enough just to renounce attachment to this life, says the Sakya Trizin. To be truly liberated we must transcend the idea of a solid reality altogether.
If you have attachment to this life, you are not a religious person.
If you have attachment to the world of existence, you do not have renunciation.
If you have attachment to your own purpose, you do not have enlightenment mind.
If grasping arises, you do not have the view.
                        —Root verses of Parting from the Four Attachments
                            Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1092–1158)
This teaching is from the category known as mind training (lojong). It was given directly by the great bodhisattva Manjushri to the great Lama Sakyapa, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, who was the first of the five great founders of the Sakya order.
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Welcoming the Homeless

Monday, May 16, 2011 at 12:46PM
Kiley Jon Clark had drunk himself out of a job, a marriage, and the trust of his children when he happened upon a Buddhist book that changed his life. Now he’s bringing the dharma to others who have fallen on hard times.
The chapel was empty except for me and the Buddha. It was Saturday night, and the Homeless Meditation Practitioners group had already finished meeting, but Tami had seen our makeshift shrine from outside and wanted to take a closer look.
She ran a hand gently across the Buddha’s face and then explored the softness of the saffron cloth. She smelled the flower arrangement, and rang the Tibetan bells. She put the elephant incense holder in the palm of her hand and held it close to her face, seemingly lost in the detail.
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Make Me One With Everything

Monday, May 16, 2011 at 12:21PM
The Role of Humor in Buddhism
Bernie Glassman, Carolyn Rose Gimian, and Norman Fischer look at how humor not only lightens our load but deepens our practice. Introduction by Elaine Smookler.
Introduction by Elaine Smookler
Recently I went to a funeral home with my parents because they wanted to plan their funerals. I was not picturing a day of hilarity, but after we got there we couldn’t stop laughing. And it wasn’t merely from nervousness; it was partly because we felt like we were producing a show. We were offered a choice between a video or slide “retrospective” of my parents’ life; we sized up coffins with an eye to what the “audience” might think; we even planned the catering, noting that the mall across the street offered an excellent price on cold cuts. Finally, when my father said, in all seriousness, that he’d like “Dancing Queen” by Abba played at his funeral, even the funeral director laughed. It was such a wonderfully uplifting, unselfconscious moment.
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The Roshi and the Poet

Monday, May 16, 2011 at 12:02PM
Logan Beaudry muses about love, illusions, and Leonard Cohen during a sesshin with Sasaki Roshi—and ponders why Oliver Stone was there too.
Joshu Sasaki Roshi, with his short, stout, body sitting high on a throne-like chair, is giving a Zen teisho. Haruyo, his wife, acts as translator. They argue over her choice of words, like husband and wife argue, periodically forgetting their audience, and I find this amusing. The teisho, or teaching, has taken on a new dimension. Zen master one moment, quarreling husband the next.
Later I hear someone whisper that Oliver Stone is present. Why is the filmmaker here, and is that why Roshi is talking about movies during teisho? The old master tells us he’s never seen a movie about love. Pondering this, I ask myself, has Sasaki Roshi, who spends most of his time at a Zen monastery atop Mount Baldy, actually seen many movies? Now I’m trying to think of a film about love. Not Hollywood love, but the kind of love I suspect Roshi wants us to contemplate. Not contemplate, but experience. Not experience, but manifest. I decide on Luc Besson’s Léon: The Professional. Yes, Léon (played by Jean Reno) kills people for a living, yet it’s definitely a film about love. I could tell Sasaki Roshi about Besson’s film.
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