Addiction
Spring 2010 Vol. 26 #2
Spring 2010 Vol. 26 #2
Introduction
If, as the Buddha says, clinging is the cause of suffering, then addiction, the worst kind of clinging, is a theme particularly suited to a Buddhist journal.
Features
Learn how to break some bad habits with author and teacher Martine Batchelor. Meditation can help, unless, of course, your bad habit is to avoid the hard work of sitting on the cushion.
Sangha, Dharma, Buddha—and the Twelve Steps: Reflections from a clinical pscychologist who is also a community dharma leader.
The metaphor of “path” is central to the Dharma and also to the Twelve Step process of recovery. A leader in the mindful recovery movement, Kevin Griffin tells us how these two healing paths converge.
Only three months into sobriety, George Johns, a self-proclaimed “Jedi Knight of unmindfulness,” survives his first vipassana retreat.
Dharma Punx founder Noah Levine leaves a “God” concept aside as he proposes a new recovery model based on Buddhist teachings.
Journalist Don Lattin questions prominent Dharma teachers—some of them veterans of the psychedelic era—about the precept on refraining from the use of intoxicants.
Teacher, translator and former monk Santikaro shares his steps for staying clean from the ultimate addiction—the one that’s got us all hooked.
Scientist Kathleen Lustyk untangles the brain’s biochemical response to substance use and presents encouraging findings on meditation and mindfulness.
Dr. G. Alan Marlatt on Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP), an outpatient treatment program.
Tham Krabok monastery’s notorious herbal medicine is only part of this unique Buddhist detox program, reports Vince Cullen; the rest requires a commitment to a new life.
You can learn to eat even brownies with awareness through Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT). Psychology researcher Jean Kristeller teaches people how to create a new relationship to food.
Former Buddhist nun Paldrom Collins now counsels sex addicts.
iPhones, iPads, MySpace—the names themselves should alert us to the focus of our new technologies. Tech expert Soren Gordhamer, author of Wisdom 2.0, examines the impact of our new toys and so-called social networks.
Barbara Gates turns to the fierce wisdom of the owl and the compassion of Quan Âm as guides and protectors in facing tragedy.
Eminent scholar Bhikkhu Bodhi reminds us of the practice of reflection, a skillful means often left out of contemporary Buddhist teaching.
Poems & Not Poems
Quintessential Rumi, translated by Andrew Harvey.
Dharma Jewel
Zen practitoner Patrick McMahon meditates on the echoes of Basho’s haiku.
Reviews
Awakening Joy: Ten Steps That Will Put You on the Road to Real Happiness, by James Baraz & Shoshana Alexander
Reviewed By Janet Keyes
(336 pp., Bantam Books, 2010)
The Island: An Anthology of the Buddha’s Teachings on Nibbāna, by Ajahn Pasanno & Ajahn Amaro
Reviewed By Scoby Beer
(390 pp., Abhayagiri Monastic Foundation, 2009, for free distribution)
Zen Women: Beyond Tea-Ladies, Iron Maidens, and Macho Masters, by Grace Schireson
Reviewed By Janice Tolman
(287 pp., Wisdom Publications, 2009)
That Bird Has My Wings: The Autobiography of an Innocent Man on Death Row, by Jarvis Jay Masters
Reviewed By Barbara Oldershaw
(281 pp., HarperOne, 2009)
Practice
Zen teacher Judith Ragir compares the Twelve Step inventory process and the Tibetan “Four Rs” practice for cleaning up our bad habits.
The Dharma & The Drama
Wes Nisker unearths some gems as he excavates his Dharma notebooks—from the “Golly-G” gratitude game to the meaning of our existence.