During this autumn season the dark grows long and the bounty of the harvest is brought in. Traditionally, as practitioners enter this dark time of the year, they deepen their commitment to meditation. This issue of Inquiring Mind, anchored by a primary interview with the Tibetan tulku Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, is dedicated to the transformation born of practice and the widening circles as it manifests as compassion.

Between the covers of this issue, we look at suffering and the end of suffering. With Borrowed Forms in Nature VII rising into the light on the front cover and a meditation in the dark of night on the back, we explore the dynamics of transformation within our love relationships, our families, our sanghas and the world. We are happy to offer new voices spanning a full range of ages, life and practice experience.

A thematic section on family also includes a mother-daughter interview with the young vipassana teacher Spring Washam and her mother and an essay by senior vipassana teacher John Travis on a charged visit with his alcoholic father upon returning from Asia. Bold and truthful writing reminds us that transformation is not necessarily tidy and pleasant.

A second thematic section on engagement with the community ranges from Ajahn Amaro’s reflections on the intentional world of practice in the monastery to Bhikkhu Bodhi’s call to express practice through the relief of global hunger. As Mingyur Rinpoche points out, “No matter how long you practice or what method you use, every technique of Buddhist meditation ultimately generates compassion.”

— Barbara Gates & Wendy Johnson

FEATURES

Transformation and Compassion
In this interview, Tibetan tulku Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche recounts stories and techniques for transforming suffering due to panic, low self-esteem and anger into compassion and happiness. Recalling a story in which a peacock ate poison to beautify his feathers, Rinpoche says, “If poison is transformed into medicine, then anything can be transformed into medicine.”