Effective Giving – April 16, 2012 Meditation

Effective Giving The other day a good friend of mine, Rabbi Jonathan F. posted the following on his Twitter feed: [blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/rabbijonathan/status/190965768651939842″] My apologies to Rabbi Jonathan if this misrepresents the intention of his Tweet How do we approach the idea of giving a gift that considers the other’s actual needs? Within the Lotus Sutra there are five practices that are given to us; keep, read, recite, copy, and expound. Let us consider the practice…

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Why Every Buddhist, Muslim, Jew, non-Christian and Some Christians Should Oppose North Carolina Amendment One on May 8

Why Every Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, non-Christian and Some Christians Should Oppose North Carolina Amendment One on May 8 The supporters of Amendment One’s passage have frequently offered the complaint that their religious freedom is at stake and threatened if this amendment fails, or if by some chance same-sex marriages are allowed, though that isn’t even on the ballet. They would have folks believe that their right to practice and believe what they wish from a…

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Survey Says… – April 15, 2012 Meditation

Survey Says Researchers have shown that by noticing things you are grateful for increases your happiness. In a study done (Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2003. 84(2), 377-389) it was shown that people who made a weekly accounting of the things they were grateful for during the week were happier than…

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Burnout – April 14, 2012 Meditation

Burnout Over the past several days I have written a lot about the idea of quitting one’s practice. Here at the temple I see a lot of folks come through the door. Of course some do so only as a class assignment, others are simply curious with no real interest in actually practicing. There are some though who actually do begin to come regularly and seem genuinely interested learning more and practicing Buddhism. So what…

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