Three Ways to Bring Your Spiritual Practice into Daily Living.
by Ricardo das Neves on Apr 6, 2012
One of the things that I always find striking when I visit a predominantly Islamic country is the call to prayer. Five times a day you basically have a reminder to detach from everything that feels oh-so-important right now and reconnect with your spiritual source. So I started to think: how can I get something equivalent in my life? Here are three possibilities, in case they speak to you.
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25 Amazing Zen Retreat Photos.
by elephantjournal.com on Apr 6, 2012
Minimalist Retreat, Leiria, Portugal Via our elephriends at EcoSalon. We live in an over-connected world of smartphones, social networking, and 24-hour news cycles. Sometimes, you just need to get away from it all. Whether you dream of a wood cabin in the forest, a cabana on an empty beach, or a treehouse outfitted in sustainable materials, there’s [...]
153 views
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A Trungpa Rinpoche Crazy Wisdom Teaching. ~ Peter Mt. Shasta
by elephantjournal.com on Apr 5, 2012
As the sake flowed I thought he must have lost sight of how close to the edge he had come. Was an inebriated Lama more conscious than an ordinary drunk? Did he realize where he was and how dangerous his situation—and the stress he was inflicting on me?
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10 Reasons why Buddhism is Better than your Religion.
by Waylon Lewis on Apr 5, 2012
If you don’t do Buddhism don’t worry, you’re not going to hell. *You’ll just endure countless lifetimes of cyclical suffering. 1. We’re not really a religion. As the Dalai Lama said, if Buddhism and Science disagree, go with science. As the Buddha himself said, don’t believe anything I say unless it matches with your experience. [...]
11,620 views
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Walk the Talk Show with Waylon Lewis: Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche Bonus Footage re: How to Exercise our Bodies & Minds.
by elephantjournal.com on Apr 3, 2012
Exercise is good for our bodies, stillness is good for our minds. Last week, Waylon was honored to speak with Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, an avid marathon runner, leader of the international Shambhala community and meditation master. His new book, Running with the Mind of Meditation, is now available. This is the bonus footage. For the [...]
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Walk the Talk Show with Waylon Lewis: Sakyong Mipham on Running with the Mind of Meditation.
by Walk The Talk Show on Apr 3, 2012
“Many of us are slaves to our minds. Our own mind is our worst enemy. We try to focus, and our mind wanders off. We try to keep stress at bay, but anxiety keeps us awake at night. We try to be good to the people we love, but then we forget them and put [...]
1,754 views
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What is Bearing Witness from a Buddhist Perspective?
by Bernie Glassman on Apr 3, 2012
Bearing witness gives birth to a deep and powerful intelligence that does not depend on study or action, but on presence.
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Riding the Magic Yoga Carpet: Part II. ~ Linda Karlsson
by elephantjournal.com on Apr 2, 2012
After letting go of taking classes, after my traumatic events in the place I did my yoga teacher training, I took a break from the public yogaworld and retreated.
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The 25th Anniversary of Chogyam Trungpa’s death. Here’s a video & exclusive written tribute by his son, Gesar Mukpo.
by Waylon Lewis on Apr 1, 2012
Tribute to Chogyam Trungpa by his son Gesar Mukpo, on the 25th Anniversary (Parinirvana) of his death. ~ Since my father Chögyam Trungpa passed away twenty-five years ago, a generation has grown up exposed to his teachings but having never met him. They have come to know him though forming their own profound connections with [...]
1,404 views
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11 Must-Read Buddhist Books. In order.
by Waylon Lewis on Mar 29, 2012
This is my personal list. I grew up in the Shambhala tradition, so we read mostly Tibetan Buddhism and some Zen. At the bottom you’ll find two other lists. 1. Give them a taste: Anything by Pema Chodron, but I’d recommend The Wisdom of No Escape. 2. Keep ‘em coming back for more inspiring, accessible, [...]
3,366 views
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Confessions of a Buddhist Psychic. ~ Alyson Mead
by elephantjournal.com on Mar 27, 2012
But when I found myself jobless in Los Angeles, I landed a job as a phone psychic, using my scant knowledge of tarot cards to gain the position. Far from being a haven for out-of-work actors or charlatans drunk on woo-woo juice, I found myself surrounded by gifted intuitives, each with his or her own area of specialty.
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How Hot Is Your Anger?
by Ed & Deb Shapiro on Mar 27, 2012
We can watch as anger fills the mind and makes such a song and dance, and we can just keep breathing and watching as it goes on it’s merry way.
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Ancient Nalanda & Modern Naropa University.
by Linda Lewis on Mar 26, 2012
So I am curious, writing this from Nova Scotia,—do students, graduates, faculty, friends and neighbors acquainted with Naropa feel that it is evolving toward or already living up to Trungpa Rinpoche’s original inspiration? Is Naropa University on its way to being, as Rinpoche put it, like Nalanda, “run with great efficiency, all-pervading discipline, and a sense of celebration”?
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Pretty much my favorite Buddhist quote ever.
by Waylon Lewis on Mar 21, 2012
Since everything is but an apparition, perfect in being what it is, having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one may well burst out in laughter. ~ Longchenpa Spirituality, meditation, enlightenment isn’t serious stuff. If you’re overly serious about it, you have much work left to do. For many years, this [...]
3,791 views
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Embodied Spirituality: Resurrecting Confidence & Dignity in your Daily Life.
by Benjamin Riggs on Mar 21, 2012
In meditation practice, the posture is often overlooked. This is unfortunate, because in the posture we find a “vital quality of mind.” Our body is the gateway to basic sanity, and this article explores that basic principle by looking deeper into the practice of somatic posturing.
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Ah. {Poem} ~ Adam Arthure
by elephantjournal.com on Mar 20, 2012
Having grown up around Trungpa Rinpoche, one couldn’t help but to feel a natural devotion towards rinpoche and the teachings..through the years, having taken refuge with Rinpoche at 9 years old, that devotion has sprouted and spread to the heart of my hearts.
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Benevolence toward all Beings: Lovingkindness as a Meditation Practice . ~ Toni Bernhard
by elephantjournal.com on Mar 20, 2012
Traditionally, lovingkindness phrases are directed at five different groups of people. At first, I don’t recommend that you try to move through all five groups during one practice session. On a retreat, it’s common to spend several days on a person from one of the groups before moving on to the next group.
563 views
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Day 27 without Food.
by Kim Stetz on Mar 19, 2012
Three Tibetan men have been on a hunger strike since February 22, 2012. The word is that they arrive at the UN at 8:30 AM and leave at 6:30 PM. They are staying at a location in Queens.
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A Self-Delivered Kick Up The Ar$e.
by Jacquelyn O'Brien on Mar 19, 2012
I am about to give myself a good kick up the ar$e but you get to listen in if you want.
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Frank Berliner on Accommodating the Chaos in our Lives through Meditation.
by Walk The Talk Show on Mar 18, 2012
Waylon talks with Frank Berliner about how meditation can help the everyday person and not just the ponytailed guru on the mountaintop.
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Wanting to Be William. ~ David Rynick
by elephantjournal.com on Mar 16, 2012
I too, have inherited this fierce need to connect and the sometimes crippling sense of never being enough.
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Kony 2012: Human Rights without the Human Heart? ~ LaDawn Haglund
by elephantjournal.com on Mar 13, 2012
As has been amply demonstrated, there are real problems with the Kony 2012 campaign. I won’t go into lengthy critique here; eloquent analyses abound online. But two issues, in particular, stand out from a Buddhist perspective.
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Don’t Kill Me!
by Karl Saliter on Mar 13, 2012
It is that girl you let down, and the farmer on whose stolen land you are a trespasser. It is knowing that you will trespass again. It is the black sea turtle and the demon god’s younger sister, Shiela, who will eat you as soon as she looks at you.
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Non-Duality to Address Contemporary Human Predicament. ~ Jagdish Kohli, PhD
by elephantjournal.com on Mar 13, 2012
The source of all creation including planet earth, plant life, animal kingdom and human beings is the energy of non-duality. In addition to the source of creation it is also the binding force which interconnects all life in the universe.
2,071 views
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I’m not Yamantaka. ~ Chad Woodland
by elephantjournal.com on Mar 9, 2012
But through the entire day I was literally nauseated and stressed out. Deep in my being I knew I was lying to myself. I did not want to be Yamantaka. I did not want a yidam (sounds sexy but..). All these prayers and throwing rice and flowers was very quaint, but no one will ever describe me as quaint. It’s just not me.
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elephant’s Best of the Week.
by elephantjournal.com on Mar 8, 2012
Subscribe to elephant’s free Top 10 Blogs of the Week newsletter. Yoga Girl Tricks Eco Boy into Asking Her Out (on Facebook). The Continuing Adventures of Eco Boy vs. Yoga Girl, a serialized novel (fiction). “Dating in the 21st Century is becoming virtual. Love and life itself are becoming virtual. In the internet, there are no [...]
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Junk Shops, Facebook & Spiritual Materialism.
by Hector V. Barrientos-Bullock on Mar 8, 2012
I have seen a trend in modern “New Age Spirituality.”
It has been used as forms of self help that, in my opinion, has been more damaging than helpful.
It has been of no small annoyance to me that this has become the norm of those practicing, as well as supported, rather than admonished.
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Suffer with More.
by Rebecca Lammersen on Mar 7, 2012
Here I sit on my blanket, and another realization that my need to nourish and feed these ducks and geese is derived only from my insatiable want.
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Social Unplugging.
by Joshua Plant on Mar 7, 2012
We have bifurcated our attention between our online life and our offline life, and it seems that the former is becoming increasingly more important than the latter.
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Embracing Personal Loneliness as the Path to Awakening.
by Benjamin Riggs on Mar 6, 2012
Meditation is ultimately a confrontation with boredom. We have to sit with our loneliness.
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Is Money Humanity’s Greatest Invention?
by Jeff Bogart on Mar 4, 2012
Money is a triumph of mind over material world.
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Tibet Is Burning (A Lesson in The Power of Non-Violence).
by Chris Lemig on Mar 3, 2012
After the speech, we marched together through the streets of McLeod Ganj. The emotions were not of anger or rage or uncontrolled passion. There were no cries of “Death to China!” no calls for revenge or holy war. And if anyone has a right to call for those things, it’s the Tibetan people.
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Seduced by Death in Savasana.
by Catherine Ghosh on Mar 2, 2012
Corpses are poignant reminders of the inherit fragility of human life.
~They force us to face our own utter vulnerability and lack of control. ~
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Meditating with Demons: How to Work with Your Dark Side.
by Benjamin Riggs on Mar 1, 2012
“Too often, people think that solving the world’s problems is based on conquering the earth, rather than touching the earth, touching ground.” ~ Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
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Falling Into Presence.
by Lasara Allen on Feb 29, 2012
For months the ache of longing and the confusion caused by my desire for presence was like a sword in my heart. The pain of separation was searing, almost unbearable.
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Destructive Ways To Happiness. ~ Tracy Crossley
by elephantjournal.com on Feb 28, 2012
I will volunteer this about the wound: it ain’t as bad as it used to be. These now lukewarm sensations, used to rip me into a million pieces.
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Stop Practicing Buddhism (And Just Do It). ~ Andrew Furst
by elephantjournal.com on Feb 27, 2012
Are rules useless? No, especially if you’re young or inexperienced. But are they the best tools to guide us through life? Not really.
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Right View: Elationship. {part one of eightfold path series}
by Michelle Fajkus on Feb 25, 2012
Right view is the beginning and the end of the path; it simply means to see reality as it is.
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10 Apps to Propel our Spiritual Practice.
by Ricardo das Neves on Feb 24, 2012
So, you’re a spiritually-inclined type who just shelled out some major cash for the latest smartphone, and you wouldn’t mind finding some Great Spiritual Justification to rationalize what in a harsher light might be seen as your materialistic, acquisitive side. You’ve come to the right place: I assure you, you and I are in good company. And what better way to justify your technological habit than to put it to use in your quest to become a more enlightened human being?
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Dr. David Simon. {Interview} ~ Anthony J.W. Benson
by elephantjournal.com on Feb 24, 2012
Among his many qualities and accomplishments, both personally and professionally, David was a good man—smart, thoughtful, and kind. After our first meeting, David and I would check in and say hello over the years—always enjoying an enlightening and friendly conversation. We even spoke just a few months ago about a new project that I might help facilitate for him. But it was not to be.
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elephant’s Best of the Week.
by elephantjournal.com on Feb 22, 2012
Subscribe to elephant’s free Top 10 Blogs of the Week newsletter. Cheerful (Eastern) New Year! Life can be so hard. The end of a year is hard. From a Buddhist point of view, the last few weeks have been the hardest time of the year. Now, today, is the New Year—the year of the Water Dragon. [...]
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Follow Your Intuition. ~ Laura Wells
by elephantjournal.com on Feb 22, 2012
I’ve been led down an interesting, unusual path lately. A few years ago (like most everyone else, I’m sure) my little family and I began to endure a litany of financial hardships that nearly broke us in more profound ways than just in our bank account.
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Finding Success Through Meditation & Learning to Be. ~ Michael Greenleaf
by elephantjournal.com on Feb 21, 2012
Practice Makes Perfect. Without the discipline in meditation, old habits prevailed, nothing changed in life. This article was previously published on Samadhi Cushions blog. Not too long ago, the New Yorker magazine reported on a study of successful start-up companies. What makes some new ventures take off, they asked, while others never seem to get [...]
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BetterListen! Giveaway: Free Download of Ram Dass on Consciousness & Aging.
by elephantjournal.com on Feb 21, 2012
Download the classic from Ram Dass on Consciousness, Aging and the New Millenium, free for elereaders through the end of the month. In this fascinating transcribed excerpt from Consciousness, Aging and the New Millenium, Ram Dass—beloved teacher and author of the seminal work Be Here Now—explains to workshop attendees how absolutely any experience, even driving [...]
1,020 views
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I Can Quit Thinking Whenever I Want, Dammit! ~ Greg Eckard
by elephantjournal.com on Feb 20, 2012
Oh, no, I’m thinking again!
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Ilana Meallem: Warrior.
by Atalwin Pilon on Feb 19, 2012
Ilana is a warrior who uses her heart as her weapon. “When you meet a person who has inner authentic presence, you find he has an overwhelming genuineness, which might be somewhat frightening because it is so true and honest and real. You experience a sense of command radiating from the person of inner authentic [...]
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Reasons not to Meditate. ~ Jim Sindt
by elephantjournal.com on Feb 18, 2012
The endless speculation is more interesting than knowing.
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Locked in by your body?
by Michael Stone (Centre of Gravity) on Feb 17, 2012
When we soften the breath, the body becomes softer. When the body becomes softer it offers less resistance to whatever we’re feeling and whatever we’re feeling has a chance to arise and express itself without being locked in by the hardness of the body. So we breathe soft. And the harder our reality gets the [...]
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What Alcoholism Taught Me.
by Jennifer Fields on Feb 17, 2012
Every soul has their own journey to take. I can’t exorcise his demons for him any more than he can rid me of mine. I don’t have the power to stop his drinking. I do, however, have the power to stop my own self-destructive actions.
2,990 views
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The Buddha on Food Stamps. ~ Joan Whitacre
by elephantjournal.com on Feb 15, 2012
Standing in line at a Whole Foods in an upscale mall, I was accompanied by others who were also exercising their health wise, environmentally friendly, and economically privileged choices.
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