Change Your Mind, Today

Do you get days off from work for Buddhist holidays? Buddhism’s relatively lacking in (free of?) singling out special days (except, perhaps the annual Buddha-day celebration known as Vesak).

The present moment is always cause for special awareness.  (Go ahead … please, take a few conscious breaths. See for yourself: this moment is a wonderful moment.)

Worth celebrating too is how Buddhist teachings and practice find their roots in American culture (as “Buddhism” but also as “mindfulness,” “emotional intelligence,” aspects of “cognitive science” and healthy food, zen hospices,  etc).

In 1993, Tricycle, the first American Buddhist glossy magazine, inaugurated Change Your Mind Day — an opportunity for people to gather in public for teachings from various traditions.  The new movement is still catching on across the country.

For anyone reading these words, Tricycle this week is hosting Change Your Mind Day online with teachings by Stephen Batchelor,  Gehlek Rimpoche, Clark Strand [streaming video], plus links to various local campgrounds.

To consider studying one’s own mind was, 50 years ago, a far-out concept. Now we hear we can train the mind and change our brain.  The head is round to allow for change in the direction of thought.  A new mind can spell a new world.

Change your mind … !