Practice
Spring 2006 Vol. 22 #2
Spring 2006 Vol. 22 #2
Introduction
Managing Editor Dennis Crean introduces this issue with memories of his travels in Thailand, following monks on alms rounds, circumambulating stupas, meeting monastic teachers with a range of skillful means…
Features
Mindfulness: The Heart of Buddhist Meditation? A Conversation with Jan Chozen Bays, Joseph Goldstein, Jon Kabat-Zinn and Alan Wallace
By Margaret Cullen
Four extraordinary teachers of Buddhadharma—Jan Chozen Bays, Joseph Goldstein, Jon Kabat-Zinn and Alan Wallace—engage in a spirited conversation on mindfulness and how it operates in our lives.
Inquiring Mind interviewed Bhikkhu Bodhi upon the publication of his new anthology of sutta passages, In the Buddha’s Words (Wisdom, 2005).
For midwife Nancy Bardecke, assisting birth and attending death are as much a part of her practice as going on retreat.
Baseball Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda shares his enthusiasm for Nichiren Buddhist chanting practice.
Zen teacher Susan Murphy reflects on our sense of place.
Scholar Sam Harris compares Buddhist practice with science and other religions: “nowhere is the link between spiritual experience, ethics and compassion articulated with the kind of clarity one finds in the Buddhist tradition.”
Rev. Heng Sure converses over a wide range of themes with religion “sage” Huston Smith.
Dharma teacher Kevin Griffin wonders whether he’s a lousy meditator.
Barbara Gates is crazy about dogs—especially rescue pups. She finds that training a pup and training the mind are much the same.
Dharma Jewel
The Experience of Insight: A Simple and Direct Guide to Buddhist Meditation, by Joseph Goldstein
Reviewed By Tom Hendrickson
Tom Hendrickson remembers the first time he met Joseph Goldstein, “a man who embodies his teaching,” and reflects on the lasting value of The Experience of Insight.
Books & Bodhi
Thus Have I Heard: Ajahn Amaro On The Roots Of Audio Dharma
By Ajahn Amaro, the Editors of Inquiring Mind
“In a way, Ananda is the patron saint of audio dharma,” says Ajahn Amaro, talking with us about the oral tradition.
Ines Freedman describes the Redwood City Insight Meditation Center’s thriving audio dharma program, reflecting on how this form of teaching can impact our practice.
Special thanks to Ajahn Sudanto of Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery for compiling this list of links.
Andrew Olendzki writes about Dharma Seed’s 1984 beginnings, its growth and its transition into being a dana-supported distributor of recorded dharma talks.
A Mind Reader’s Briefing
Reviewed By Charlotte Painter, Lailah Robertson, Kathy Grayson, Ronna Kabatznick, Wes Nisker
Short reviews of The Universe in a Single Atom • Another Morning: Voices of Truth and Hope from Mothers with Cancer • Heart of Wisdom, Mind of Calm • The Ajanta Caves • The Buddha’s Apprentices • Healing Trauma • The Force of Kindness
Practice
Quilly Powers commits to Uposatha Days, examining habits and choices as they arise. Just a few simple changes in a day’s activities can bring so much more mindfulness.
The Dharma & the Drama
With characteristic humor, Wes Nisker muses on meditation as an “evolutionary sport,” identifying as an earthling, a mammal, a vertebrate, a bag of bones and seawater, an itty-bitty bit player in the big story of life on Earth.