In an earlier piece, I explored a basic process for meditation for those who are starting a meditation practice. Continuing on this theme, I’d like to explore some of the differences related to meditation between Christian and Buddhist approaches. Of course, each great religious tradition maintains a tradition of meditation.… Read More »Christian and Buddhist Understandings of Meditation
The practice is called, “tonglen.” The word is Tibetan and can be translated as giving and taking or sending and receiving. The practice appears to date to the 12th century in Tibet, but originated in India before that. Over the last several months, I’ve been learning more about the Tibetan… Read More »Buddhist Practice and Christian Lent
As I read Facebook status up-dates one day last week, the words posted by a friend struck a deep cord. The question he posed was simple, frank, and stark. It read: Will the hate ever stop? As best as I could tell, the question was not connected to a specific… Read More »Will Hatred End?
It was early Sunday morning. I sat in the general area of the church where I’m usually to be found. Bleary eyed, I looked passed the sanctuary and out the plate glass windows to the trees now bare in late autumn. I may have looked like I was in some… Read More »Growing Up Poor – Memories from My Mother
“Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” When I started college, I often heard these words. This saying, attributed to Jesus and found in both the gospels of Matthew and Luke, was a favorite quote of one of my college friends, Mike. A bit of an evangelist,… Read More »What Are We Saying and Doing?
If you asked a group of people about their experiences of spirituality and their beliefs, you’d quickly discover that people who maintain regular spiritual practices and strive to integrate the wisdom lived from those practices with their daily lives tend to believe wide variety different things. While there may be… Read More »Spirituality, Belief and Truth
As I read the news coverage over the weekend, I was struck by the attention given to May Day demonstrations throughout the United States. May 1 is International Workers Day. While May 1 doesn’t typically draw much attention in the United States, May Day is observed as Labor Day throughout… Read More »May Day, Immigration, and Social Justice
Conservative Christians dominate political and social life in the United States. While I know that there are hundreds of thousands of Evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics who consider themselves to be conservative Christians, it’s puzzling to me how the concepts of conservatism and Christianity can be aligned. While American conservatives… Read More »Conservative and Christian?
