“Be Your Own Therapist” Ven. Rob
Venerable Robina Courtin strikes again: Be Your Own Therapist
Mindfulness In Plain English
One of the best books to comprehensively, accessibly, and without too much esotericism* introduce the reader to the basics of Buddhist meditation and/or mind/heart training. A Theravadin rather down-to-earth approach. Old […]
Cognitive Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation
Richard J. Davidson on contemplative neuroscience and neuroplasticity, on the relationships of brain and experience. A summary from GoogleTechTalks channel on Youtube: “Google Tech Talk September 23, 2009 ABSTRACT Presented […]
Why carry s**t in your pocket?
A well-known humorous modern-day Theravada monk (read: non-theistic Buddhist scholar of mental gymnastics) on business, on carrying dog-shit around in our pockets, on anger management, and on the simple meaning of the […]
Buddhism: Philosophy or Religon?
I was discussing some ideas for my potential PhD proposal with a potential supervisor in the spring of 2012 via email. I outlined the general points of what I intended […]
Mindfulness-related pain relief: Evidence for unique brain mechanisms in the regulation of pain
ScienceDirect.com – Neuroscience Letters – Mindfulness meditation-related pain relief: Evidence for unique brain mechanisms in the regulation of pain. From the above link: “Abstract The cognitive modulation of pain is […]
Mindfulness Practice Found to Increase Gray Matter Density
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21071182 Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density. Hölzel BK, Carmody J, Vangel M, Congleton C, Yerramsetti SM, Gard T, Lazar SW. Source Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. […]
Ramachandran: Journey to Mind
Ramachandran: A journey to the center of your mind http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl2LwnaUA-k
Documentary: Monks in the Lab
The information and links below are copy-pasted from an entry by Leaf Dharma on Buddhistorrents.com. I have found only this streaming video link of the two working. It sheds light […]
‘Yale Scientific’ on Benefits of Meditation
Easing Pain, Brain Scans
http://www.livescience.com/13579-pain-meditation-effects-brain-scans.html “Then the volunteers attended four 20-minute classes to learn a meditation technique called focused attention, which trained them to focus on breathing and to dismiss other thoughts or emotions. […]
Monks in Another Lab
Surprise: Kalama Sutta & Skepsis
Not every Buddhist retreat or teacher Westerners may come into contact with will mention this sutta/sutra found in Tripitaka. However, it may put the whole take of Buddhism on various […]
Alan Watts: The Silent Mind
Mindfulness Visualized
A very nice visualization/presentation on how mindfulness and the mind-body relationships work. Carefully chosen words of a secular neutral nature. No link back to Buddhism is made, which can be […]
First, a functioning healthy ego
This piece by Thanissaro Bhikkhu addresses an issue often encountered in unbalanced approaches to mental development/cultivation. One can hear and read the terminology of psychology or Buddhism and New Age mixed […]
Maintain Cars. AND Brains.
SharpBrains.com has a few articles that can be linked to several training topics in this blog. Two of them are linked below. It is Not Only Cars That Deserve Good […]
Film: “Mystical Brain”
Disclaimer! I apologize in advance if I am wrong but I am not 100% certain of the premise of this film. It seems to be more biased than the other […]
Animation: “I, Pet Goat II”
Mesmerizing density… A short analysis of the imagery used: http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread860132/pg1 Also here: http://www.heliofant.com/commentary.html and here: http://vigilantcitizen.com/moviesandtv/the-esoteric-symbolism-of-the-viral-video-i-pet-goat-ii/
The 10 Bulls
Read the full text here: http://www.expressionsofspirit.com/10bulls/tenbulls.htm “Ten Bulls or Ten Ox Herding Pictures (十牛; Japanese: jūgyū, Chinese: shíniú) is, in the tradition of Zen Buddhism, a series of short poems and accompanying pictures that are intended to illustrate the […]
Western Teachers of Advaita Vedanta
Looking into Buddhism one will inevitably come across Advaita Vedanta, too. Interview series named: “Western Masters of Non Duality”
Doing Time, Doing Vipassana (1997)
“In the mid-1970s Vipassana was first tried within a prison environment with two 10 day courses being conducted for jail officials and inmates of a prison in Jaipur in the […]
Meditation in Another Prison
A short video: Path of Freedom | Global Oneness Project. “Path of Freedom” In the harsh environment of a Rhode Island men’s prison, a group of fifty inmates are transforming their […]
Savage-Rumbaugh: Apes that Write
So… they are animals… and you are…? Susan Savage-Rumbaugh: The gentle genius of bonobos | Video on TED.com
Dhammapada v.80
“Irrigators lead water Fletchers fashion shafts Carpenters bend wood The wise tame themselves”
Believe Everything You Read?
Important to keep in mind with all of this. And with everything. Why You Can’t Help Believing Everything You Read — PsyBlog.
Does Humanist Meditation Exist?
Does Humanist Meditation Exist? » Secular Buddhist Association This is a presentation Rick Heller of the Harvard Humanist Contemplative group gave on secular meditation at the American Humanist Association conference, […]
Principles of Psychology, 1890, W. James
William James, Principles of Psychology, 1890. Chapter 11, Attention. “And the faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again, is the very root of judgment, character, […]
Thoreau on repetition
“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, […]
Stanford studies monks’ meditation
Stanford studies monks’ meditation, compassion – SFGate.
Tenzin Palmo: Waking up
Bill Hicks: It’s just a ride
Late American stand-up comedian Bill Hicks, died at age 32, I’d say a Bodhisattva. 😉 Most of his gigs are full on sharp social commentaries. And full of insight.
Zen proverb: Chop wood…
“Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.” — Zen proverb
Skit: Stop It
This pretty much sums IT ALL up. 🙂 Mad TV Bob Newhart Skit – Mo Collins – Stop it
Krishnamurti: Noise makes noise
“You know, in the case of most of us, the mind is noisy, everlastingly chattering to itself, soliloquizing or chattering about something, or trying to talk to itself, to convince […]
A statue? In a secular home? Yes.
Some might ask, why would Western people practicing the Buddhist trainings, especially those talking about secularity, keep a statue or a picture of the Buddha in their house. One’s usual […]
“Occupy Wall”, ad of Village Zendo
Source: Villagezendo.org
Ven. Robina: Nonsense of “Spiritual”
NB! This is *not* an attack on people’s spirituality. One could mistake this for such a stance easily should a defence position be set up beforehand. It is a most […]
Animation: Cleverman
Animation: Le Puits / The Well
Film: Dhamma Brothers
A movie making a point that a ten day meditation retreat (using the training approach promoted by S. N. Goenka) in a prison greatly helped several participating inmates and that […]
Animation: “Toleratia”
Tenzin Palmo: Greatest Threat
Hebbian Theory in Neuroscience
Culture is Your Operating System
Terence Mckenna – Culture is Your Operating System
Arno Gruen on Identity
“Wenn Identität auf der Identifikation mit Autorität basiert, bringt Freiheit Angst. Solche Menschen müssen dann das Opfer in sich selber mit Gewalt gegen andere verdecken.” “If people base their identity […]
Dalai Lama at the LSE (London School of Economics) – Resisting intolerance: an ethical and global challenge
Resisting intolerance: an ethical and global challenge – Video and audio – News and media – Home.
Manic Nation: Dr. Peter Whybrow Says We’re Addicted to Stress
Manic Nation: Dr. Peter Whybrow Says We’re Addicted to Stress
Krishnamurti: See anger objectively?
“The moment you protect your family, your country, a bit of coloured rag called a flag, a belief, an idea, a dogma, the thing that you demand or that you […]
What is Consciousness?
What is Consciousness?
{ knowing-ism aka awake-ism aka buddh-ism } 
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