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Farewell, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh!
Over ten years ago, one of my disciples in Vietnam had a Stupa — a Buddhist shrine — built for my ashes. I told her, I didn’t need a stupa for my ashes; I don’t want to be stuck in a stupa; I want to be everywhere. “But,” she protested, “it’s already built.” “In that… Read more
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What is Meditation?
Let’s start with the understanding of meditation. What is meditation, really? We know that the mind can be divided into sense consciousness — sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch — and mental consciousness. Mental consciousness ranges from our grossest experiences of anger or desire, for example, to the subtlest level of complete stillness and clarity.… Read more
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What is Right Brain and Why It Matters Today
Our brains are extraordinary. The typical brain consists of some 100 billion cells, each of which connects and communicates with up to 10,000 of its colleagues. Together they forge an elaborate network of some one quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000) connections that guides how we talk, eat, breathe, and move. James Watson, who won the Nobel Prize for… Read more
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A Short Course on Buddhist Meditations
In this series of posts, we will bring you some of the finest lessons of Buddhist meditations. The lessons are based on the teachings and published works of Kathleen McDonald. She is a respected and inspiring teacher in the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, the worldwide organisation of the Buddhist teaching and… Read more
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Sam Harris on Free Will
Free will is an illusion. Our wills are simply not of our own making. Thoughts and intentions emerge from background causes of which we are unaware and over which we exert no conscious control. We do not have the freedom we think we have. Free will is actually more than an illusion (or less), in… Read more
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How to Write a Dialogue
Writing a dialogue can be challenging. For most writers, it’s much easier to narrate a story in their own voice, instead of jumping from one character to another. But… there is thrill too, in writing dialogues. Think about a dialogue that you can remember at this moment — maybe from a book or a movie.… Read more
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