Blog Profile / Shambhala SunSpace
| URL : | http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Religion / Buddhism | |
| Posts on Regator: | 1059 | |
| Posts / Week: | 8 | |
| Archived Since: | November 5, 2010 | |
Blog Post Archive
Weekend reading: Leonard Cohen, the Karmapa, and more from our current issue
The July Shambhala Sun is coming soon, but in the meantime, our May magazine is still available and loaded with great reads. So we’ve shared longer excerpts of two of its features: Andrea Miller’s interview with Jeff Bridges and Bernie Glassman, and Pico Iyer’s meditation on Leonard Cohen. Click here to read “The Dude and [...]
From The Under 35 Project: “Beautiful Beasts”
Meredith Arena on what it feels like to be embodied and alone. As I understand it, being alone is of great importance in Buddhism. When I sit quietly, following my breath as it travels through my body, holding myself upright and dignified in whatever way I am able on that given day, I am alone [...]
Video: Tasting tea, tasting life
“When ‘tasted’ deeply, life itself is more genuine, less guarded,” writes Bonnie Myotai Treace in her review of William Scott Wilson’s “The One Taste of Truth: Zen and the Art of Drinking Tea,” from our May magazine. One person who understands that is Jesse Jacobs, the owner of Samovar, a San Francisco tea lounge previously [...]
Politics, Dharma, and Equanimity: Going beyond right, left, red, and blue
By Suzanne Harvey It’s hard to know which was more surprising: that I would run for political office at all—and then win—or that I would become a Buddhist. Politics happened first… or maybe not. A recent return visit to the New Hampshire State House served to remind me that I’ve put dharma teachings to work [...]
Science and the sacred lotus
By Andrea Miller The lotus is a favorite Buddhist symbol. After all, it grows in the mud of materialism or suffering, but blooms pristinely above the water’s surface, symbolizing the achievement of purity or enlightenment. There are other plants that have similarly water-resistant and dirt-repelling surfaces but scientists refer to the phenomenon as the “lotus [...]
Contemplating Reality: It isn’t what you think
If you’re even a semi-regular here, you likely know the name of our colleague and friend Andy Karr. Each week on SunSpace, Andy presents an image exemplary of the “contemplative photography” he teaches and champions in his second book, The Practice of Contemplative Photography and on the book’s website, Seeing Fresh. But Andy’s first book [...]
Video: Help Plum Village community plant “Seeds of Mindfulness”
We told you last year about Planting Seeds, a documentary produced by Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village community and the group at Peace is the Way films to teach children about mindfulness. The film uses animation, songs, stories and engaging activities that children, parents and teachers can use. The film is currently in post-production, and the [...]
How to Live on Planet Earth: Poets and fans remember Nanao Sakaki
By Steve Silberman Friday night, in celebration of his new book of collected poems “How to Live on Planet Earth,” the San Francisco Poetry Center and Green Arcade Books hosted a tribute to Nanao Sakaki in a mattress factory. The event featured Gary Snyder, Michael McClure, Joanne Kyger, Patricia Wakida, Gary Lawless, Dale Pendell, Malcolm Margolin, [...]
“Rebirth” — An excerpt from Chris Lemig’s The Narrow Way: A Memoir of Coming Out, Getting Clean and Finding Buddha
Even at twelve, Chris Lemig knew he was gay — he just didn’t want to believe it. Spurred on by intolerance, ignorance, and fear, he took his first steps into the closet, and so began twenty-three years of drinking, drugs, and attempted suicides. Finally, after being victimized in a hate crime, Chris knew it was [...]
Opera about Richard Wagner to be performed in Pali
The Welsh National Opera is set to perform Wagner Dream, an opera composed by the late Jonathan Harvey, partly in the ancient Indian language Pali. Wagner Dream explores Richard Wagner’s interest in Buddhism showing Wagner on his deathbed lamenting his unfinished Buddhist opera, and having a dream in which he’s visited by the Buddha and [...]
From The Under 35 Project: “And then you find your essence…”
“They tell me that this is a story of courage,” writes Sarah Lipton. “For me, it is a story that has been waiting to be shared for seven years.” It’s the suddenness of the breeze that takes my breath away. Environmentally, I awaken, grasping that my dance of life is not separate from the dance [...]
The Mind-Body Connection and the “Emotional Rollercoaster”
The relationship between the mind and the body is a fundamental part of Dharma practice. As Anyen Rinpoche, founder of the Orgyen Khamdroling Dharma Center, explains, reflecting on the mind-body connection through mindfulness and self-discernment can help ground you and reconnect you in your own practice—which we all can use from time to time. Click here to [...]
In our online gallery: new prints for small spaces.
Several brand-new items have been added to the (not-for-profit) Shambhala Sun Foundation’s online store, including 8.5 by 11-inch prints of some our most popular Buddhist-inspired art (including this enso by Kazuaki Tanahashi) as well as new calligraphy offerings by Thich Nhat Hanh. There’s plenty more to be found in the our store, too, including books, [...]
The Dalai Lama speaks out against anti-Muslim violence in Burma
Speaking to an audience of 15,000 at the University of Maryland on Tuesday, the Dalai Lama spoke out against religiously motivated attacks against Muslims in Burma and Sri Lanka. Over the past year, violent clashes between Buddhists and Muslims have killed hundreds and displaced over 100,000 people, with some Buddhist monks inciting and participating in [...]
The “Seeing Fresh” contemplative photo of the week
Every week we choose a photo submitted to Andy Karr’s contemplative photography site seeingfresh.com that really exemplifies the practice. You wouldn’t think that a drippy, fogged up window would make a luscious photograph, but this week’s photo, by Zsolt Zsoló Kóté, shows that it can. It’s a great example of fresh seeing. For more about contemplative photography, and [...]
The Dude, the Zen Master, and the Photographer
We think Peter Cunningham’s photos for “The Dude and the Zen Master,” from our May magazine, turned out great. Cunningham, an excellent and accomplished photographer, wrote this blog post about his experience shooting cover stars Jeff Bridges and Bernie Glassman. Cunningham has been traveling and practicing Zen with Glassman for decades, but he explains that [...]
Mark Sanford, meditator: I’ve learned “the importance of stillness and quietness”
Mark Sanford‘s name has, for better or worse, become quite well known. He’s the former governor of South Carolina, and is now a Republican House candidate making the rounds. But then there was his famous affair — and Sanford’s defiant statements of loyalty to his new flame. Surprisingly, he’s weathered the scandal quite well. Also [...]
Read “Americans in Paris,” from the May Shambhala Sun magazine, online now
On this day in 1889, the Huffington Post tells us today, the Eiffel Tower opened to visitors. In those days, you could only get up to the second floor. Nowadays, a Tower visit is an all-day affair, complete with a long line and a steep, slow climb. But as Rachel Neumann tells us in “Americans [...]
Dalai Lama’s US teaching schedule now available
His Holiness the Dalai Lama will soon be in the United States, and even though many of the events he’ll be attending are already sold out, some will be made available to watch via livestream. To see the schedule (and read some of the finest Shambhala Sun pieces by and about the Dalai Lama), visit [...]
My Father’s Gift — A story of loss and renewal
A guest post by Miriam Boleyn-Fitzgerald, author of Pictures of the Mind: What the New Neuroscience Tells Us About Who We Are. I saw my dad a month before he died. We went for breakfast at the restaurant where he liked to meet when I came through town — a place by the highway with [...]