How do we cultivate a kind heart? It is not enough to tell ourselves that we should be nice, because telling ourselves what we should or should not be, feel or do does not make us become that way. Filling ourselves with “shoulds” often just makes us feel guilty... read more
I was a pretty normal kid growing up in the 1970s. I was never overweight but still feared gaining weight. I was heavily into dieting by age 12, and I was anorexic by age 15, followed by bulimia in my later teens. I spent about two decades toddling back and forth... read more
We are all interconnected and interdependent. Many of the beings that I have incarnated with in this life have struggled with achieving and maintaining healthy choices, which has caused immense suffering for them personally and their families. I weighed 400 pounds in... read more
The practice of doing alms rounds set up a relationship of dependency between the sangha and the lay community in which the lay community provided food and the sangha gave Dharma teachings. We try to duplicate this economy of generosity in a more modern context at the... read more
The Buddha was completely against harsh ascetic practices like fasting. He had tried them himself during the six years before his awakening and had seen that an emaciated and starving body affected the clarity of the mind.One kind of asceticism the Buddha did support... read more
