Letters to the Editor

On “Everything is Buddha” by Noelle Oxenhandler (Winter 2024):

I loved “Everything is Buddha” by Noelle Oxenhandler. The importance we put on stuff! When I’m having a clear-out I will honor the item, and get rid of it after taking a photograph. I believe the memory related to the item is more valuable than the thing itself. But again, I understand the attachment. And I like Noelle’s writing style . . . and her quirkily dressed animal figures.

–Tony Cruse

On “Teaching the Dharma in the Plague Year” by Donald S. Lopez (Winter 2024):

I’ve never written a letter to the editor at Tricycle before despite having been a subscriber for quite a while, but “Teaching the Dharma in the Plague Year” (Winter 2024) made me do it. I have not had the privilege of being a student of Professor Donald S. Lopez, but having been a teacher myself for thirty years, I can see from this piece that he is one extraordinary educator!

I like the minimization of technology in normal times, and the concern for students’ overuse of their laptops in pandemic times. I like the conversational nature he brings to his classes, and the use of popular (and thus easily relatable for the younger generation) music. Deep ideas don’t have to be dry academia. Mixing blues and Buddhism made for some very inventive essay topics. I also like his praise of his teaching assistant who helped him with the podcasts—always acknowledge those who help you. I hope his students appreciate how lucky they are!

–Greg Terakita

On “Classroom Mindfulness Put to the Test” (Spring 2025):

Emma Varvaloucas’s article presents a side of research that rarely gets the attention it deserves: null or negative findings. The penchant of research outlets to publish only significant findings unfortunately often ends in obscuring a more complete picture. The null results of the MYRIAD project reported by Ms. Varvaloucas are indeed disappointing. After a quick review of the research published by the MYRIAD team, I believe that the research was well-designed and executed. Nonetheless, as a researcher in education, I know that even the best of research often can lead to null results, leaving researchers looking for reasons to explain the disappointing outcome and for ways to determine the reasons for it in follow-up studies, which is what this team of researchers appears to be planning. But before they do, let me offer something that may have implications for future studies of mindfulness training for young adolescents and perhaps all mindfulness research.

Mindfulness is but one part of the noble eightfold path. My understanding of the eightfold path—and I hope I am not alone in this understanding—is that the eight parts are a package deal. That is, they are linked together, with the cultivation of one requiring the cultivation of the others. Without a doubt, people have benefited from the centuries-old practice of mindfulness meditation. But have they engaged in more than just mindfulness meditation? More likely, they have engaged in a way of life that embraces all eight parts of the noble eightfold path. To reap the benefits of mindfulness meditation by engaging in these “other parts” is perhaps what contributes to insight, empathy, and altruism.

Deep ideas don’t have to be dry academia. Mixing blues and Buddhism made for some very inventive essay topics.

The studies conducted by the MYRIAD team and by many other research teams have attempted to examine the effects of mindfulness meditation without considering the possible confounding factors that could be arising from other behaviors and thoughts that influence results. A person who meditates with the right concentration, right effort, and right mindfulness, and who also engages in right speech, action, and livelihood, may be the one who experiences the benefits of meditation. By isolating mindfulness meditation from its wider context is to ignore the confounding variables that are potentially confusing the outcomes of meditation.

I’m not advocating for the end of meditation research. Clearly, meditation has been shown to have life-changing effects leading to greater understanding. I am advocating for an expanded agenda. To conduct research on meditation, it would seem necessary to identify the confounding variables first. Once they are identified, researchers can investigate whether they are positively or negatively influencing the study’s results. The results of such investigations of mindfulness meditation could potentially lead to even greater benefits for meditators.

–Douglas J. Hacker

Good grief. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. I’m a licensed educational psychologist, and I remember when this research was published a few years ago through the British Psychological Society. As I said back when this research was first published, of course mindfulness alone is not effective—it has to be part of a larger treatment package paired with behavioral/self-care skills, values exploration, etc. There are several mindfulness-based schoolwide SEL programs (such as those based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) out there that do just this. Buddhist cultures traditionally did not introduce mindfulness to children since they likely did not have the scientific and technological methods/understanding of children’s behavior and psychology that we now have.

–Sanuk Dee