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It’s About You
Editors Note: A key aspect of a successful meditation practice is a view or orientation. To this end, some study of meditation is important. At Samadhi Cushions, we recommend books and media from fellow practitioners of meditation as an essential companion to the actual practice of sitting on your meditation cushion or kneeling bench.
Chapter 14 in Sakyong Mipham’s book Ruling Your World is called The Confidence of Delight in Helping Others. It is a thoughtful contemplation on the personal transition toward serving others. In any event, without consistently refreshing one’s ... continue reading
In New York With No Mobile
So, partly at Mr. Greenleaf’s urging (”you have to see the show at the Guggenheim”), and partly from Mitsu’s invitation to her performance, and partly from the encouragement and offer of a place to stay from a college friend I’d not seen for … years, and partly from the desperate need for a vacation (having not been outside of Vermont and New Hampshire for I think nearly 3 years), I took a long weekend in New York City. Living as I do in an area of Vermont with limited cell ... continue reading
Our Staff Reads II
Editor’s Note: To look at the breadth of what we might have read to support our meditation practice, we asked staff members to talk about books that inspired them at the beginning of their sitting meditation career, as well as books that freshly inspire them today. These selections reflect our Buddhist heritage, but can be enjoyed by anyone exploring the practice of meditation. We asked Mrs. Greenleaf, who is in France at the moment visiting her family, to share something of her life in France when she was younger.
Then: The ... continue reading
Samadhi Cushions: Our Staff Reads!
Editor’s Note: To look at the breadth of what we might have read to support our meditation practice, we asked staff members to talk about books that inspired them at the beginning of their sitting meditation career, as well as books that freshly inspire them today. These selections reflect our Buddhist heritage, but can be enjoyed by anyone exploring the practice of meditation.
While the support provided to the path of meditation the books here is timeless, we have grouped the responses under the general headings of “Then” and “Now”. We ... continue reading
A Time for Healing (Meditation)
Things have been weighing on my mind.
I sit on a few nonprofit boards. The continuing decline in stock markets has left these institutions possibly imperiled. At the beginning of the week, on Monday, I had a mole removed. An hour drive through blowing snow to a visit with the dermatologist scheduled two months earlier. During the drive, a cell phone call from a patron to invite me to assume temporary Board Chair responsibilities for a struggling arts organization. More time will be needed. Outcomes uncertain. The phone call makes me ... continue reading
Impermanence, or College Students Are Getting Younger
I assumed the group of students visiting our store here in Barnet were from a high school, but it turned out they were from Indiana Pennsylvania University. This is one way I’ve noticed the passage of time lately: college students are much younger now than when I was in college. However, photos recently posted to Facebook show that I and my classmates were just as young then as today’s college students are now. Curiously, when I see these photos there’s a lack of recognition: people look younger than I remember ... continue reading
Cheerful New Year
Last Wednesday the 25th of February was a new moon day. It was also the day that the Samadhi Cushions staff celebrated the lunar New Year. Losar in Tibetan, this is called Shambhala Day in our community and it is how we mark the beginning of New Year.
For some of us, the day included practice of Sakyong Mipham’s Birthday Sadhana - a beautiful contemplation on the preciousness and fragility of this life as well as the meaningfulness of our actions and their effects.
We celebrated the day at Karmê Chöling, the ... continue reading
Anywhere But Here
Sweat seems to have broken out on your upper lip, even though the late afternoon temperature is cool. You have a knot in your stomach and a searing pain in your left shoulder with no idea why. The polished wood floor seems to be moving up toward you, and the room, though large, feels small and cramped. You don’t remember the name of the person on your right, even though it seems you’ve been in the room with them forever. In any case, they haven’t moved in so long, ... continue reading
Meditation: Learning to Stay (and Go)
This past Christmas Holiday, I was able to share a moment with my 10 year-old granddaughter. In the car, during one of many excursions, we enjoyed a song from the 1980’s that I had heard many times and she was hearing maybe for the first time. It has a great beat and simple lyrics which makes it easy to sing along. It also increases the likelihood of the song getting stuck in my head, which it did long after the Holidays had passed.
As Valentine’s ... continue reading
We’ve put a Samadhi Cushions page up on Facebook. So now if you’re on Facebook during working hours and notice that I’m online, that of course means that I am working diligently.
The slightly more exciting, if less time-wasting, news is that the Lojong Slogan Cards are back in print and back in stock and ready to ship. So everyone who was missing a reminder to regard all dharmas as dreams, to self-liberate even the antidote, to be a child of illusion, to transform mishaps into the path of bodhi, to ... continue reading
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