Meditations

One of the least visited national parks in America, Lassen Volcanic National Park, is an hour and half drive from here. Camping at a walk-in site near the entrance affords…

Fog enshrouds the small town as I enter the mountain community from the valley below. With a few hundred meters more elevation, the fog clears, though the skies remain cloudy.…

A conversation with a Buddhist teacher from India turned to the Buddha’s illumination. “The Buddha,” he said, “was attacked by Mara, but the Buddha came to see that the evil…

The Dalai Lama has said that he may not reincarnate again, and if he does, it will not be in Tibet. He isn’t referring to illumination however. Bodhisattvas reincarnate; illumined…

Feeling compelled to further explore the question of responsibility without free will, I’m still asking: How can there be responsibility without an entity that assumes it?

Philosophers have been trying to reconcile the subject and object duality as long as there’s been philosophy. A recent fad in this vein is called ‘binocularity.’ It only confuses the…

In ancient times, and not so long ago in many parts of the world, each tradition was completely distinct and whole. Tradition wasn’t something that a people had; it was…

Perhaps the clearest expression of a core intent of this column comes from Vimala Thakar, an Indian spiritual teacher and social activist I read about recently who died in 2009.…