From the Pure Land Podcast

I had the pleasure today of interviewing Beth Korczynski, director of philanthropy for Tergar International , Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche’s worldwide organization. Tergar’s reach extends worldwide, so it’s accessible to almost anyone at any level of experience in meditation and spiritual practice. Beth and I discussed: * Tergar’s culture of openness and transparency. The ethics of transparency. * The...

Maybe impermanence works faster in science than in poetry. I learned recently that the initial singularity model for what led to the Big Bang is already outdated. Who knew? It will take a lot longer, though, for poetry about it to be outdated. A case in point is Marie Howe’s poem Singularity , which I mentioned in a previous post and recite in this podcast. Meanwhile, modern visionaries are combin...

What about fully claiming that Buddha within you? So many of us think we’re not yet there; we have more work to do before fully realizing our Buddhahood. We go from teacher to teacher, each telling us we fail to grok it because it’s so easy. Maybe there’s one more book to read, or another thousand hours of meditation practice will get us there. I’m not knocking books and meditation practice. The p...

Live your life fully. And use every moment, every opportunity, in a way that is beneficial for oneself and for others. If we live every moment the same, in a positive, peaceful, and kind way, then death is also another moment—the same. So there’s no difference. — Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche , as quoted in Andrew Holecek’s book Preparing to Die: Practical Advice and Spiritual Wisdom from the Tibetan B...

Be careful. The moment you start talking you create a verbal universe, a universe of words, ideas, concepts and abstractions, interwoven and interdependent, most wonderfully generating, supporting and explaining each other, and yet all without essence or substance, mere creations of the mind. Words create words, reality is silent. — Nisargadatta Maharaj Billions and billions of words have been spo...

Often, in Buddhist texts, the “eight worldly concerns” make their appearance. This verse , for example, is part of my daily practice: I will learn to keep all these practices Untainted by thoughts of the eight worldly concerns. May I recognize all things as like illusions, And, without attachment, gain freedom from bondage. What are the concerns that taint daily life? The Buddha lists them in Loka...

We have to learn the art of stopping—stopping our thinking, our habit energies, our forgetfulness, the strong emotions that rule us. — Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-2022) That’s a good subject to talk with your chiropractor about when you’re lying facedown on her adjustment table in an office adjoining a shopping complex as the December holidays approach—the art of stopping. It’s what happened to me yeste...

Many of us have mixed emotions about special days—those days designated for us all to feel and act in a certain way. The goal of From the Pure Land is to spur and encourage you on whatever path feels right for you . In that spirit, to explore aspects of generosity, I thought I’d present the ideas of Australian moral philosopher Peter Singer from a pro and con standpoint—food for thought on Giving...

I find it curious that every year, Americans slaughter 50 million turkeys to express their gratitude. —Bhante Gunaratana I chose that quotation not because I believe everyone should abstain from eating turkey but rather to question how we express gratitude. This blog post and podcast are intended to raise questions for contemplation. Answers—if there are such things—are up to the individual. The i...

When I launched From the Pure Land as a blog almost six months ago, I was comfortable writing but not public speaking. My mild cognitive impairment (MCI) resulted in too many pauses for me to grasp and say the word I was looking for, and sometimes, the word I spoke was not the one I intended. As it turned out, the more I exercised my writing neuronic connections, the more the speaking connections...

Just as the ocean has a gradual shelf, a gradual slope, a gradual inclination, with a sudden drop-off only after a long stretch; in the same way this Dhamma and Vinaya has a gradual training, a gradual performance, a gradual practice, with a penetration to gnosis only after a long stretch. —From the Uposatha Sutta translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu The quotation above will serve as the entry point f...

My wife, Carol, had outpatient knee replacement surgery yesterday, Election Day, so we both went to sleep around 11 p.m. East Coast U.S. time. At 3 a.m., after I awoke and got a pain pill for her, I checked the election returns and decided to write and record a quick post and podcast with quotations about all of us and the world being perfect as we are because causes and conditions produced us. We...

Today’s podcast and post is about “the clear and empty nature of the mind,” which you may hear referred to as rigpa or simply as nature of mind. Resting in the nature of mind is the heart of my Buddhist practice. As long as I can find that state and remain in it, I can handle any situation along the path—usually in a joyful way but always with kindness and compassion for myself and others. I kid y...

Below is a lightly edited version of the transcript, which isn’t perfect. I advise listening to the recording. [I also made a big mistake in the recording. I’m 78 years old; not 87. And I meant to mention an article by Andrew Holecek about the bardos. The idea is that some of the preparation for the death bardos can help with life’s bardos. Here’s the link to the article.] Welcome to an episode of...

I couldn’t be happier with this first From the Pure Land interview—except that: * There’s a weird silence at the beginning. * Toward the end, you’ll hear a quotation from the Dalai Lama read twice, but please continue until the strange long silence at the end. You can skip that. * A few other glitches because of my inexperience with the technology. Get full access to From the Pure Land at melpine....

As a Buddhist blogger , it’s essential to maintain my equanimity. I know that life is perfect as it is because it is shaped by causes and conditions, and there could be no other way. And I know that every moment is impermanent—those I like and those I’d prefer not to live through. So I take everything in stride and hope to pass that state of mind on to readers and listeners. As an American voter ,...

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with a lacquer mixed with powdered gold. The image came to me as I considered a brief way to describe tonglen , the Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice of breathing in the suffering of others and breathing out healing. We receive what’s broken and return what’s whole. The practice of kintsugi, which began in 14th-century Japan, demonstrates...

I’m about to give vent to my contrarian side. Before I do, though, let’s consider what civilization was like when Gautama Buddha began teaching and as Buddhism spread throughout South, Southeast, and East Asia. Siddhartha Gautama was born in the foothills of the Himalayas in what’s now Nepal, near the border with India. He taught there and in the Ganges Plain and acknowledged spiritual roots in th...

Equanimity…is the quality of heart that balances the movement of the heart with wisdom. Equanimity allows us to care, while also owning the limits of that care…. It is not detachment, because our heart is still engaged. We learn to take wise action when appropriate, and we let go of attachment to outcomes. — The Tattooed Buddha Inspired by my dharma siblings, with whom I sit for an hour every morn...

No words can describe it No example can point to it Samsara does not make it worse Nirvana does not make it better It has never been born It has never ceased It has never been liberated It has never been deluded It has never existed It has never been nonexistent It has no limits at all It does not fall into any kind of category. -- Dudjom Rinpoche on the nature of mind Thanks to my dharma friend a...

I won’t claim that I invented the meditation I’m about to guide you through. It’s adapted from other sources. For example, here’s a video of an hour-long dharma talk called “Taking Refuge in the Island Within Ourselves” by Sister Chân Đức in the Plum Village monastery and retreat center in France: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5J4N989CeU I’ve added a twist or two I haven’t seen before, even tho...

After three decades of practicing Theravada (foundational) and Mahayana (second wave) Buddhism, I was still confused about one thing. As far as I could tell, every form of Buddhism teaches that all beings have the Buddha Nature within or at least the potential for enlightenment, but it always seemed distant—not within reach. I certainly didn’t consider myself a Buddha, but my meditative experience...

In the 1980s or ‘90s, Thich Nhat Hanh and his longtime companion, Sister Chan Khong , turned a ritual called the Five Prostrations, with roots in Theravada Buddhism, into a profoundly healing meditation they called Touching the Earth —one easier for Westerners to practice. I’ve had the privilege of doing the meditation led once by Thich Nhat Hanh in Vermont and once by Sister Chan Khong in Virgini...

The perfection of loving-kindness is the wish to provide for the welfare and happiness of the world, accompanied by compassion and skillful means; literally, it means benevolence. — Insight Meditation Center Here's a 20-minute Metta (loving-kindness) meditation for beginners as well as the more experienced. Get full access to From the Pure Land at melpine.substack.com/subscribe