In the high-pressure world of Hong Kong, 22 students have committed suicide since the start of this academic year in September 2015, leading to increasingly
Who is dragging this corpse around? This huatou, similar to a koan, was popularized by Hsu Yun, a famous Chan Buddhist master of the late 19th/early
The American novelist E. L. Doctorow once wrote that writing is “like driving a car at night: you never see further than your headlights, but
The ambulance pulls up at the gates of Htantabin Monastery in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, where Sayadaw Kaywala waits patiently. As the door opens, he bends
The New Year is a natural time for reflection and the setting of resolutions. This is a valuable process, for it’s all too easy to
The Buddha gave us many methods to facilitate the investigation of our own minds. With conscious intention and some determination, we can end or greatly
Shamatha meditation is the practice of settling the mind into a stable and calm state of present-moment awareness. Once the mind is in such a state,
The first teaching I received on the Buddhist view was the First Noble Truth—the Truth of Suffering. During my first years of studying Buddhism, I
A Hong Kong resident for many years, over the summer I have been visiting friends and family in the UK. One of the highlights was
In the US, where I’m from, the words “healthcare” and “healing” carry very specific impressions: white-coated doctors, antiseptic rooms, pharmaceuticals . . . and fear.
The second of the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths is about the origin of suffering—namely, craving. While many other causes of suffering may appear in our
Years ago on Bali’s remote northern shore, surrounded by frogs filling the air with a deafening cacophony of song, I was introduced to the six dakini teachings
