Start your day with a fresh perspective
The Buddhist Review
Back Issues
Generosity, or dana, lies at the very foundation of Buddhist practice. As vipassana teacher Gil Fronsdal writes, “the Buddhist path begins and ends with this virtue.” In the following section, Gil Fronsdal, Professor Dale Wright, and the Buddha himself teach on this transformative practice so central to all Buddhist schools. We invite you to read […]
By TricycleA Thai woman’s long path to ordination
By Bhikkhu Silaratano
An interview with Karen Armstrong, creator of the Charter for Compassion
By Rachel Hiles, Sam Mowe
When we intentionally reach out to others in giving, positive self-transformation occurs.
By Dale S. Wright
Three Western Buddhist practitioners share their stories.
Maude Wolfe, Mushim (Patricia) Ikeda-Nash, and Meara Claire Hayden
Buddhism is not just a set of techniques for self-help. There is something much bigger going on.
By Dharmavidya David Brazier
Generosity and the “instant karma” it generates
By Gil Fronsdal
A remembrance of Charlotte Joko Beck
By Gerry Shishin WickA dinner party invocation
By Noa JonesSince 1954, the 14th Dalai Lama has periodically given public initiations, including the performance of rituals and the creation and dismantling of a special mandala, known as the Kalachakra (Wheel of Time). Tracing its history to the teachings of Shakyamuni, the Kalachakra is a vast tantric body of knowledge that is used by the five […]
By Don FarberSpiritual teacher, activist, social critic, poet, Ph.D. in Buddhist psychology, and author of books like Zen Therapy, The Feeling Buddha, and Love and Its Disappointment, Dharmavidya David Brazier has packed several lifetimes into his 64 years. His essay “Living Buddhism” draws on many of them, notably his grounding in Carl Rogers’s Person Centered Approach to […]
By Tricycle
Some people may think of spirituality as the practice of having faith in something. Some others may see the dharma as being like a spiritual massage. The way I see the dharma, however, is that intelligence and investigation are even more important than faith. To practice the dharma is to look into the content of […]
By Ogyen Trinley Dorje
How to be present in your body
By Jill SatterfieldPhotos
By Don FarberNotes from the first Buddhist Geeks conference
By Richard EskowBrad Warner discusses Buddhist blogging, power, and the generation gap
By TricycleProfession: NovelistAge: 42Location: Portland, Oregon How did you get into Buddhism? I first heard of the Four Noble Truths in my early 20s from a boyfriend who used them to rationalize suffering. I thought it was a lousy philosophy aimed at keeping an economic caste system in place—Here, peon! Your misery is a natural state. […]
By TricycleA student asked Nakagawa-Soen during a meditation retreat, “I am very discouraged. What should I do?” Soen Roshi replied, “Encourage others.” This celebrated anecdote, which is included in Michael Wenger’s book 49 Fingers: A Collection of Modern American Koans (see this issue’s “Parting Words“), is one of those deceptively simple stories that, like many of […]
By James ShaheenWhat was most remarkable about Charlotte Joko Beck was her spaciousness. Being with her was sharing this spaciousness, which is ours – though we often miss it. Joko translated this into practice to allow others to taste it and see what attachments and self-centeredness were hindering and obscuring this. Though some got caught up in […]
By Elihu Genmyo SmithA new documentary by Jennifer Fox
By Mary Talbot
You need a reliable compass to set your direction and steer through the rough waters when you are going through hard times, when you’ve been betrayed, when you’ve lost your job, when you’ve lost friends or loved ones, when you’re in conflict with your family, or when you’re going through illness. But how can you […]
By Jack KornfieldWrestling with wholesome and unwholesome impulses
By Andrew Olendzki
The stamp of the African elephant
By Rick Bass
Nonviolence and engaged living
By Michael StoneThe Tree of Life Though I thought that Linda Heuman’s recent piece, “Whose Buddhism Is Truest?” (Summer 2011), was fascinating and liberating, I would like to make a few remarks (as a nonspecialist) regarding the genealogical tree model that she says must be “cut down.” First, regarding the tree of life, which Heuman says biologists […]
By Tricycle
How many people wake up in the morning to hail their families with a cheerful “Good morning”? This may seem like a little thing, but the person who is unaccustomed to greeting others will find it hard to get that simple salutation out of her mouth. “I’ll be laughed at,” such a person thinks, and […]
By Nikkyo NiwanoDear Abbey Dharma, I am a 30-year-old man with Asperger syndrome. I am an adopted Buddhist, but I find it difficult to be both autistic and Buddhist. Buddhists are not supposed to judge people as much, for example, but I find I get scared of certain kinds of people: they overwhelm my senses, and I […]
By Sylvia Boorstein
In upholding the precepts, we actualize our buddhanature
By Bodhin Kjolhede
Breathing life into the suttas
By Rodney SmithLavender for comfort, rosemary for strength
By Wendy Johnson
To open the doorway to realization we must first confront our despair
By Joanna Macy
Using visualizations can be a powerful form of meditation—but don’t imagine visualizations are something new and foreign that you have no experience with. In reality, you visualize all day long. The breakfast you eat in the morning is a visualization; in an important way it is a kind of projection of your own mind. You […]
By Lama YesheZenju Earthlyn Manuel’s Tell Me Something about Buddhism: Questions and Answers for the Curious Beginner (Hampton Roads Publishing, 2011, $16.95, paper, 128 pp.) is a simple yet uncommon introduction to the Buddha’s teachings. Manuel, an African- American Zen priest, takes a direct and personal approach to the dharma. “What does Buddhism have to do with […]
By Sam MoweRusty Trunzo was in prison for over thirty years for committing murder. When he completed his sentence three years ago, he left prison as a radically different man. “The first nine years in there, it was all about staying numb,” Trunzo said. “Using [drugs], you know, and really not getting involved in much of anything.” […]
By Emma Varvaloucas“The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan,” an exhibit at Asia Society in New York City
By Anne Doran
Case Seisen Fletcher was angered upon reading the Buddha’s statement that his allowing women to ordain would put Buddhism back 500 years. She went to Maezumi Roshi to ask him about it. After a few moments he said: “Well, it was worth it.” Commentary Taizan Maezumi Roshi (1931–1995) studied in and transmitted three teaching streams: […]
By DairyuMichael Wenger