McLeod - The best Buddhist writing. 2012

Practical wisdom from Pema Chdrn and Thich Nhat Hanh share space in this anthology with fresh insight on the Occupy Wall Street movement, the art and practice of contemplative photography, the story of five courageous monks who take on the disastrous forces of a wildfire, and other highly personal accounts.

Yoga International

ABOUT THE BOOK

A treasury of the most notable, profound, and thought-provoking Buddhist-inspired writing published in the last year. The Best Buddhist Writing 2012 includes:

• His Holiness the Dalai Lama on cultivating a universal ethic of kindness
• Sharon Salzberg on getting your meditation practice started
• Pema Chdrn on how to smile at fear
• The Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi on analyzing global problems through the lens of traditional Buddhist teachings
• Bruce Rich on the enlightened model of government of the Buddhist monarch King Ashoka
• Thich Nhat Hanh on fidelity in loving relationships
• Michael A. Stussers determinedand hilariouseffort to speakand tweetno evil
• Norman Fischer on a new and more open understanding of language
• Barry Boyces fascinating survey of the life and teachings of the late Chgyam Trungpa Rinpoche
• Michael Stone and David Loy on the basic questions raised by the Occupy Wall Street movement
• Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoches explanation of the meditation practice of kusulu, the pinnacle of simplicity and relaxation
• Nancy Baker on the powerful and useful energy behind anger
• Diane Ackerman on living with her beloved husbands Alzheimers disease
• Yangzom Brauens moving account of her grandmother and mothers escape from Tibet following the Chinese invasion
• And much more

MELVIN MCLEOD is the editor-in-chief of the Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma: The Practitioners Quarterly. He is also the author of Mindful Politics: A Buddhist Guide to Making the World a Better Place.

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THE BEST BUDDHIST WRITING 2012

Edited by Melvin McLeod

and the Editors of the Shambhala Sun

SHAMBHALA Boston & London 2012

Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Horticultural Hall

300 Massachusetts Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02115

www.shambhala.com

2012 by Melvin McLeod and the editors of the Shambhala Sun

Cover design by Jim Zaccaria

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The best Buddhist writing 2012 / edited by Melvin McLeod and the editors of the Shambhala Sun.First Edition.

pages cm

eISBN 978-0-8348-2805-6

ISBN 978-1-61180-011-1 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Buddhism. I. McLeod, Melvin. II. Shambhala sun.

BQ4055.B476 2012

294.3dc23

2012012376

Contents

Andrea Miller

Diane Ackerman

John Tarrant

Pema Chdrn

Sharon Salzberg

Shodo Harada

Melissa Myozen Blacker

Colleen Morton Busch

Noah Levine

Joan Sutherland

Thich Nhat Hanh

Callie Bates

Lin Jensen

Nancy Baker

The Dalai Lama

Stephan Talty

Yangzom Brauen

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi

Michael Stone and David Loy

Bruce Rich

Zoketsu Norman Fischer

Andy Karr and Michael Wood

Barry Boyce

Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

Elihu Genmyo Smith

Taigen Dan Leighton

Michael A. Stusser

Since their first encounter with Buddhist philosophy two centuries ago, Western thinkers have wondered at Buddhisms uniqueness and struggled to define it. Is Buddhism a religion, albeit one without God? Is it a philosophy, an ethical system, a psychology, a way of living? This is the conundrum of the great nontheistic religion. We in the West struggle with it to this day.

Buddhisms very mystery and variety allow us to read into it what we want. For many in the West, Buddhism is synonymous with peace, love, and the universal religion of human kindness advocated and exemplified by the Dalai Lama. Some Westerners are drawn to the rigor, depth, and artistic associations of Zen, while those with a more mystical bent may be attracted to the colorful and esoteric Vajrayana tradition, with its elaborate rituals and sophisticated tantric practices. Westerners who like their religion practical and humanistic may be drawn to the early teachings of the Pali canon, from which they can derive a kind of liberal Buddhism marked by ethics, rationality, nonhierarcy, and individualism. Still others see Buddhism as a great science of mind, the ultimate partner to Western psychology and neuroscience, or as a philosophy of interdependence that can guide humanity through its environmental crisis.

There is truth in all these views, yet none strikes at the heart of the question we have been asking ourselves for two hundred years: What is it that makes Buddhism unique among the worlds great religions?

For me, it is the Dalai Lama who has answered this question best. In A Profound Mind (Harmony Books, 2011), His Holiness makes a clear, profound statement that encapsulates Buddhisms unique view of the human condition. The suffering and happiness each of us experiences, His Holiness writes, is a reflection of the distortion or clarity with which we view ourselves and the world.

Buddhism is famed for the four noble truths that lay out its foundational logic. They are: suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path. Surely all religions and philosophies are born of the need to address the unsatisfactoriness of human life. It is Buddhisms analysis of the cause of and solution to suffering that makes it stand alone. This analysis is what the Dalai Lama has summarized in a single, precise sentence.

We experience suffering, he is telling us, because we dont understand. Our view of reality is distorted and inaccurate. We are simply mistaken, not sinful or flawed. We are, in a word, ignorant. We think that we and the world we experience are solid, continuous, and permanent, and we cause ourselves and others unending pain in our futile effort to maintain that illusion. Ignorance is the cause of suffering: this is the second noble truth, Buddhisms unique diagnosis of the human condition.

Therefore, the Dalai Lama continues, we experience happinessthe cessation of sufferingwhen we understand with clarity the true nature of ourselves and our world. No longer attached to realities that are at best momentary, we do not experience fear. We do not generate the three poisons of like, dislike, and indifference. We are not selfish. We are, in a word, wise. Our hearts are open, our minds are clear, and we benefit ourselves and others. Seeing reality clearly is the cause of the cessation of suffering: this is the third noble truth, Buddhisms unique remedy for the human condition.

This brings us to the fourth noble truth, the path, and to this book, the 2012 edition of