When Things Fall Apart: A Middle Way

Pema Chodron, "Widening the Circle of Compassion" (When Things Fall Apart, pp. 81-83)"Things were going like this in my life" (Wisdom Quarterly/Conscious Life Expo, LAX Hilton)   (Pema Chodron)Buddhist words such as compassion and emptiness don't mean much until we start cultivating our innate ability simply to be there with pain with an open heart and the willingness not to instantly try to get ground under our feet.    For instance, if what we're feeling is rage, we...

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Enlightenment Fast (Part 1)

Dharmachari Seven, Amber Dorrian, Wisdom Quarterly (UPDATED July 13, 2012)In a rush to gain liberation -- to know and see, to touch nirvana -- we make spiritual exertions.    Sometimes odd, often useless, these practices or delusions are clung to in spite of the immediately effective path being laid out.    Whatever else one may do or abstain from doing, the Noble Eightfold Path stands as a reminder that we must take eight categorical factors into consideration:Right View (of...

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