The Five Contemplations 1. This food is the gift of the whole universe: the earth, the sky, numerous living beings, and much hard, loving work. 2. May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive it. 3. May we recognize and transform our unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed, and learn to eat with moderation. 4.

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Ritual has power. I learned that lesson early on. Growing up in the English countryside, my family wasn’t religious, but we observed folk celebrations that gave meaning to each season and structure to our days. We danced around the maypole on May Day, gathered around a St John’s Fire at Midsummer and sang in the streets at Michaelmas. These rituals... See more

There is this idea I return to all the time, talk about all the time, that comes from a quote by one of our late elders, Eddie Benton Banai. He said that to live an Anishinaabe life, to live according to our Seven Grandfather teachings, is to live a life where every footstep becomes a prayer. Isn’t that beautiful? You know how when you walk through... See more

Chef Sati Invites You to Dinner Chef Sati—a chef and Buddhist teacher—invited us to dinner to introduce us to the art of mindful cooking and eating. He promised that his dishes would enlighten our senses and that the evening would simply be an opportunity to touch the joy of life, but we would all have to take an active part in the meal. He placed

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