- What I Got Wrong About Buddhism (And What Changed Everything)
Doug reflects on five key lessons he wishes he had understood earlier in his Buddhist practice: misconceptions about meditation, the importance of testing teachings rather than accepting them on faith, treating the Dhamma as tools rather…
- The Harsh Truth About Having a Body, a Buddhist Perspective
We'll surely encounter them: pain, illness, and aging. How do we deal with such difficulties? We'll look to some early Buddhist practices for clues.
- Silence Your Inner Critic: Buddhist Antidote to Anxiety
We can be relentlessly self-critical, to the point of anxiety. Early Buddhism gives us insight into how best to understand and work with this negativity, helping us to tone down our inner critic.
- There Were Two Nirvanas
Did you know that in early Buddhism there were two kinds of nirvana to which we could attain? We'll look at what those two were, how they differed, and why the difference between them was of dharmic importance, particularly for a…
- A 'Healing' Practice from Early Buddhism
With the Coronavirus upon us, we may be interested in knowing what advice the Buddha had to give to sick people. One early piece of such advice involves a contemplation on ten perceptions. We will look at the ten and consider what they…
- Two Arrows of Buddhism
One of the Buddha's most famous similes was that of the two arrows. We will discuss aspects of that simile and how understanding it can help us in our practice with the Coronavirus.
- Life: Accept It or Escape From It?
Is our task to learn to accept the world as it is, or rather to escape from it somehow? We will look at ways that both approaches are found in Buddhism, and how they can be reconciled.
- The Unconscious in Early Buddhism?
The unconscious plays a key role in recent theories of psychology. Does it have any counterpart in Buddhism? Well ... sort of. We will look at the suttas of early Buddhism in particular, at one way we may be able to recover some ideas…
- Did the Buddha Feel Pain?
One question we may have is whether the achievement of awakening -- or even that of being a Buddha -- means we no longer experience pain. We'll consider that question, with an emphasis on what the early texts say about what the awakened…
- Is Desire the Root of Suffering?
It is sometimes said that desire is the root of suffering, or that the Buddha claimed such a thing. We will look at the ways in which desire can be unskillful, including some that are very close to our hearts, and other ways in which…