In the Star Wars prequels we saw the fictitious Chancellor Palpatine directly playing the republic off of the separatists and indirectly...

Why do we come to meditation with agenda and expectation? Because of our controlling tendencies: latent and insidious. Consider Yoda:...

No, I do not agree with Thomas Hobbes assessment that our ancestors’ lives were “…solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short…” and nether...

One could develop quite a few psychic abilities by implementing the Buddha’s meditation techniques on a twice daily basis, but that’s not...

Vince Lombardi taught “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.” And our friends at alcoholics anonymous teach that hunger, annoyance, solitude,...

Years had elapsed since last Anakin Skywalker had seen Padme Amidala, and yet he had thought of little else, had desired little else. So...

“Be kind…” they implored, “and everything else will fall into place” they assured. Qui Gon Jinn was a busy fellow. He had a Queen to...

How many souls has Charon piloted across the river Styx? And how many lamented, or raged, or pleaded or bargained? Greater in number, I’d...

The Buddha taught that we each love praise and each hate scorn, for nobody wants to be misunderstood, no less be denied the benefit of...

A local Sri Lankan Buddhist monk explained to his novice that he longed to be of service to others, and also that he was afraid that he...

In this interdependent universe in which we dwell we can effect things, beings, and phenomena. And they can effect us. Even if we ignore...

“Be seen and not heard. Do as you’re told. Don’t make a fuss.” These are the lies we are taught from childhood. For patriarchy prefers us...

The fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet does NOT enjoy all of his duties. He is often asked to write forwards to other people’s books. And...

Friend requests are one of the many follies of Facebook. For if a stranger reaches out, yet the months go by with nary a note, a comment,...

“Could ‘prattling on’ include unskillful use of social media?” she intelligently asked. “It could,” I responded, “but in our good hearted...

The only way to find out if Buddha’s path is for you is to give it a try. Begin by suspending judgement. Formally practice the essence of...

Simply scrawling William Shakespeare’s words, “There is nothing good nor bad but thinking makes it so” beneath an image of the Buddha...

Why do we feel separated from other beings? For the same reason we tend to exacerbate our stressors, be they circumstantial, physical,...

In the Metta Sutta the Buddha warns against clinging to opinions. Such clinging can be seen, to quite a vulgar degree, in many of...

In 1977 Star Wars delighted a sickly twelve-year-old with Alec Guinness’ Obi Wan Kenobi. For in that character a younger “me” was exposed...