What happens when you decide not to call yourself a Buddhist

I’m a week or so away from my 35th birthday and I can confidently say that the Dhamma (dharma) has been a big part of my life for the better part of the past 20 years, arguably even the whole of it. My family’s not Buddhist, and I didn’t have any Buddhist influences growing up, but I was always questioning, investigating, wanting to understand the ways of the mind and heart. Even though I was lucky enough to come across my first book on meditation at 14, and my first formal instruction at 18, it honestly wasn’t until just before my 31st birthday that things started to click. And it wasn’t until another couple of years passed that I truly learned how to meditate—meditate as a way of life.

(more…)

Opinions

The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.
When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make the smallest distinction, however
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.

(more…)

Inquiry as practice

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.–Albert Einstein

→Ask questions.

I’d like to say this is the first present I received when visiting the Gimme Presence site to partake in its creator Kristen’s challenge. But I can’t.

(more…)

A matter of perception

The gradual vs. sudden debate.

Is it about effort or effortlessness?

Can delusion and wisdom coexist?

Do I have to be aware, as in pay attention, or is it a matter of remembering…I’m already aware?

(more…)

Learning to reside in being

During the spring I attended a course with Loch Kelly on what he calls “awake awareness.” I met Loch during a retreat last year with Mingyur Rinpoche, when he mentioned the course to me. In truth, I wasn’t terrifically open at the time.

(more…)