I see something in my work as a labor organizer again and again. This is probably something you can see in a lot of different situations where people interact with each other. People judge each other. People assume bad intent. People jump to the worst possible conclusions and this happens regularly. It’s usually top down, managers assuming negative intent from employees, but not always. Sometimes it’s the other way around. And also the workers seeing the worst in each other.... Read more
In our spiritual journey we are trying to cultivate compassion in order to live in a more awakened way. Working to train in compassion is really important, but there’s a certain point we can get to where it becomes more than a virtue we are working on. Compassion can become a habit. That’s where the magic really is, when we don’t stop to think “Should I act with compassion right now?” but instead we just naturally do it without thinking.... Read more
May You Be Happy May You Be Healthy May You Be Safe May You Be At Ease Metta is a style of meditation. It’s sometimes called loving kindness practice. “Metta” is usually translated as loving kindness or loving friendliness. I like to call it Boundless Heart Practice. First we establish ourselves in concentration practice and mindfulness of breathing, then we do the practice. In this practice we start with ourselves and mentally recite these phrases “May You Be Happy, May... Read more
Chotrul Duchen, the Festival of Miracles, is one of the four great Tibetan Buddhist holidays. It occurs on the 15th day of the new year according to the Tibetan calendar. This year it’s March 18th. It’s a different date every year because it’s a lunar calendar. It’s called the Festival of Miracles for a reason. It’s said that the Buddha performed a miracle each day for 15 days. This served to increase the merit and devotion of his students. In... Read more
Cultivating an attitude rooted in compassion helps our well-being in various ways. The world may try to tell you that compassion is not a strength, that if you have a lot of compassion you’re a “snowflake” or “bleeding heart” and I’m here to tell you the opposite. Compassion is a strength. Having an open heart is the way toward contentment in life. Compassion helps us with self-acceptance because it gives us the opportunity to see through our self interest and... Read more
“If we learn to relate to others from the perspective of our shared humanity, we could extend our empathetic concern to strangers and even to those whom we find difficult to relate to.” -Thupten Jinpa PhD Our compassion is often limited. I want to talk about how we can expand it, how we can broaden our circle of concern to include more and more people, because I believe we can. But first, why would we do this? I believe learning... Read more
I’m willing to continue saying that compassion is the core of our being, that an open heart is our natural state and that people are basically good. This is, to some people, controversial. So I thought I’d address the question: then why do we resist compassion? A lot of our resistance comes from assumptions and prejudices that we may have acquired over time. Our core beliefs, the deeply held beliefs we have about the world and our place in it,... Read more
“An important aspect of self-compassion is to be able to empathetically hold both parts of ourselves, the self that regrets a past action and the self that took that action in the first place,” -Marshall Rosenberg Human beings struggle with self-aversion. We struggle with self-attachment too. Sometimes we think we are the worst person we know and we can’t possibly do anything right. Other times we think we’re the best, we’re always right, and it sure is weird people... Read more
Losar is sometimes called the Tibetan New Year. It’s based on a lunar calendar, so it’s not the same date every year. Last year it was February 14th. This year it’s March 3rd We are ushering in the year of the water tiger. I said above that it’s March 3rd and that’s not totally correct. It’s celebrated for 15 days, but the first three are considered the most important. Losar is considered the most important holiday in the Tibetan calendar.... Read more
“Showing and receiving kindness is one of the most powerful communications, because that communication is coming from a place of true connection, a genuine connection with a fellow human.” -Thupten Jinpa There are three ways compassion manifests in our lives. Reflecting on the differences and similarities between these three manifestations can help us in our practice and in our daily life. They are: 1) Receiving compassion from others 2) Being a source of compassion for others 3) Self-directed compassion All... Read more
Bodhisattva Road
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