Article: Skillful Ways to Evaluate Your Practice by Gil Fronsdal
After a person has been meditating for some time, it’s important that he or she evaluate how the practice is developing. Is it working? Does it need adjustment? Is it the right practice to be doing? Can it be improved? Some of this evaluation can be done on one’s own, some with a teacher or […]
Article: “The Relational and the Non-Relational Dimensions of Buddhist Practice” by Gil Fronsdal
Buddhism offers teachings, practices, and profound realizations for two different dimensions of life: the relational and the non-relational. Classically, these two were referred to as the conditioned and the unconditioned dimensions. A modern way of distinguishing them is to point out that the first has to do with that which occurs or exists only in […]
Article: “The Dharma and the Path of Harmlessness” by Gil Fronsdal
“A wise person does not intend harm to self or to others. A wise person intends benefit for self, for others, and for the whole world.” -The Buddha The full scope of Buddhist practice is conveyed through the word ‘Dharma.’ This word has a number of meanings that depend on the context in which it is […]
Article: Letting Go by Gil Fronsdal
Letting go is an important practice in everyday life, as well as on the path of liberation. Daily life provides innumerable small and large occasions for letting go of plans, desires, preferences, and opinions. It can be as simple as when the weather changes, and we abandon plans we had for the day. Or it […]
Article: Friendship on the Path by Gil Fronsdal
It can be easy to think Buddhist practice is individualistic and solitary. Teachings on being mindful of oneself and taking responsibility for one’s actions can seem to emphasize a focus on oneself. The practice of sitting in meditation with one’s eyes closed can also suggest that Buddhism is about separating oneself from society. While certainly […]
Article: Awakening with Dependent Origination
A person who was lost in the jungle may not have learned the way out if he or she accidentally stumbles out. Lost in the jungle again, the person may be no wiser about how to get free. On the other hand, if a lost person carefully studies the jungle and learns the way out, […]
Article: Awakening to Dependent Origination
Deep, indeed is this dependent origination. It is through not understanding and penetrating it that people become entangled like a tangled ball of threads. —The Buddha (Long Discourse No. 15) When the Buddha awakened, he awakened to something. With the stilling of his mind and the dropping of his attachments, he awoke to Dependent Origination […]