Becoming the Ally of All Beings
The late Jiyu-Kennett Roshi, a Zen teacher, said the training of liberation begins with compassion for the self, and that cultivating a non-judgmental mind toward ourselves is the key to a genuine compassion for all beings.
Silencing the Inner Critic
“Tonglen: The Key to Realizing Interconnectedness
PEOPLE GENERALLY eat up the teachings, but when it comes to doing tonglen, they say, “Oh, it sounded good, but I didn’t realize you actually meant it.” In its essence, this practice is: when anything is painful or undesirable, breathe it in. In other words, you don’t resist it. You surrender to
... See moreSo, why cultivate loving-kindness? It is not to pacify our grief and outrage, but rather to protect our hearts from becoming what we despise. We cultivate loving-kindness even for those that contort themselves into defending ethnic cleansing because it’s in confronting our deepest revulsion that we touch the depths and power of our buddha nature.