I didn’t go looking for meditation, not consciously at least. Past imprints on the soul work according to their own rhythms and dictates. I grew up in Hong Kong, and as a senior in high school saw an exhibit of black-and-white photographs by Chris Rainier. As I walked through the gallery, I was mesmerized by the images of yogis and…
I am sitting in the Good Stuff Diner on West 14th Street across from Nicky Vreeland, a maroon-robed Buddhist monk with deep smile lines. A gifted photographer with an exquisite W Magazine-sponsored exhibit at ABC Carpet & Home to benefit the Tibet Center, Vreeland has mentioned that he finds harmony in his pictures. “Did that train you for life as a monk?” I ask. “I think that…
Some students at the Providence Zen Center went to their teacher with a pressing moral dilemma: “Should we kill the roaches in the meditation hall?” If the students didn’t eliminate the roaches, the building might get infested, but killing living beings is a violation of a fundamental Buddhist ethical principle. Ethical behavior—what I think of as integrity-in-action and moral accountability…
By Jennie Dorris At first glance, a session of shira yoga might look like a typical yoga class. But hang around to listen, and you’ll notice that, instead of traditional kirtan music or a flowing electronic groove, the room is humming with an ancient Hebrew chant. Currently available in New York and Boston, and launching later this year in San…
How do we strike the right balance between protecting and overprotecting our kids?
The most inscrutable, looming, and painfully urgent question presented by life is what, if anything, might occur at its conclusion. We awaken at birth with no memory of where we came from, twist and wind through the drama of our existence, and eventually exit this stage, receding back into the unknown. If anything, death is a place of no return,…
The subtitle of Lama Marut’s new book, Be Nobody(Beyond Words), encapsulates the quandary of its contents: “We’re all desperately trying to be somebody. Maybe we’ve got it all wrong.” Being a “nobody” would seem to be a mark of failure rather than a goal in our overachieving and hyper-busy world. Why would we want to dismantle this self we take…
Adyashanti is a fascinating man, and his new book Resurrecting Jesus: Embodying the Spirit of a Revolutionary Mystic (Sounds True) is equally fascinating. There’s an appealing pluralism to both the man and the book. Although he didn’t have a particularly religious upbringing, Adyashanti’s connection to the Jesus story began during his childhood, when he was still Steven Gray, living in…
