bodhi tree swaying

From time to time I’ll hear people saying that meditation shouldn’t involve effort. For example, Krishnamurti said, “All effort to meditate is the denial of meditation.” And I just stumbled upon a website that decried the “arrogance” and “ignorance” of those who say that meditation involves effort, because “Effort is the antithesis of meditation.” It’s [...]

What are we looking for? What gives our lives a sense of meaning? How can we find a sense of confidence in a world marked by change? In the Noble Quest sutta from the Middle Length Sayings, the Buddha offers a first-person guide to the pursuit of a meaningful life. Drawing on his own life [...]

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This Buddha statue reclines gracefully on the ledge of one of the windows in the “yoga room” (it’s called that, although there’s hardly ever any yoga done there) below the shrineroom a…

A large stone Buddha head I photographed while I was leading a workshop at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY.

So, is this the work of a Ron Paul opponent, or a not very smart Ron Paul supporter?2/2/12 – 1

Peter’s book is a lovely thing: it’s a year of reflections by someone who practices Buddhism but resists the label “Buddhist.”

This is the second article I've seen predicting that Obama's health care act is the nail in the coffin of the health insurance companies. I hope that one day we'll look back on this era and wonder how people could have allowed anything so monstrous to flourish.

And people may also regard Obama as a political genius to have sneaked this past the GOP.

The End of Health Insurance Companies Accountable care organizations will shift the focus of medicine away from treating sickness and toward keeping patients healthy.

Disturbing news about ADD medication."To date, no study has found any long-term benefit of attention-deficit medication on academic performance, peer relationships or behavior problems, the very things we would most want to improve."Children?…

I just watched and enjoyed "Monsters," which is a low-budget (almost home made) Sci-Fi movie with surprisingly high production values, decent acting, and an affecting plot.Monsters(2010)Six years after Earth has suffered an alien invasion a …

More Lana Del Rey. Love it.LANA DEL REY-BLUE JEANSTaken from the album Born to Die, out January 30 (UK) / January 31 (US)

Pre Order Album
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New Single …

No comment necessary.LANA DEL REY-VIDEO GAMESVideo Games/Blue Jeans available on iTunes Worldwide now: http://bit.ly/LanaiTunes

New Single Born To Die, download here: http://smarturl.it/LanaBTDiTunes

Watch the Born To Die video: http://www.youtub…

"I’m defending their Constitution, too."Jessica Alquist, the 16-year-old Rhode Island atheist who got a prayer banned from her school, in the Christians who support the prayer's retention: “It’s almost like making a child get a shot…

"Good Morning Border Pastor." Yup, Google Voice's automatic voicemail transcription strikes again.Still, it's miraculous that it works at all.

How prone are you to disgust?There's a very interesting article in the New York Times about studies on the emotion of disgust (http://nyti.ms/zcqt1w) as well as a link to a survey set up by Jonathan Haidt. The survey (http://bit.ly/youNKH) was fasc…

A major victory over the encroaching surveillance statePolice Use of G.P.S. Is Ruled UnconstitutionalThe Supreme Court unanimously ruled that putting a tracking device on a suspect’s car violated his rights, although they differed on why.

Facebook’s a funny place. You’ll post a link to a really brilliant, informative, insightful, and useful article on meditation and get very little response, and then post a picture of a dog meditating and get swamped with “likes” and comments. An example of the latter happened recently when I idly shared this cartoon on reincarnation. [...]

Someone on Facebook just introduced me to this very moving clip from Luc Besson’s 2005 film, Angel-A, about an angel, played by Danish actress Rie Rasmussen, who intervenes to rescue, André (played by Jamel Debbouze), a self-loathing scam artist on the verge of killing himself. This makes me long for the days when I used [...]

This Filipino traffic cop requires us to redefine "awesome." Although the fact that the cars create shadows and he doesn't is more than a little suspicious Filipino Traffic Cop Doing His Job Like A BossTHIS IS BOSS !!!!!!!

Every muppet deserves its day in court.This is hilarious. An Ohio TV station wasn't given permission to film a juicy corruption trial, so they're recreating highlights of the trial using puppets. They should do this for the Supreme Court as wel…

In the interests of full disclosure I should say that Ashley Davis Bush, the author of Shortcuts to Inner Peace: 70 Simple Paths to Everyday Serenity, attends the same Buddhist center I teach at. I’ve bumped into her and her husband a literally a couple of times, but it’s a large center, we’re not by [...]