Dear mindful friends,

I am writing this letter to you from Deer Park Monastery in Escondido near San Diego, California. This morning, I woke up at 5:00 am and walked over to the main hall for the morning meditation at 5:45 am. The sitting began with the deep sounds of the bell and a hauntingly beautiful chant in Vietnamese, sung by one of the venerable older monks. 45 minutes went by smoothly and swiftly in a profound silence, broken only with a cough or two by one of the lay brothers in the hall...      read more »

Dear Dharma sisters and brothers,

NAMO AMITABHA BUDDHAYA!
I bow in gratitude to the "Infinite Light of Awakening" that you truly are!

Today is the 8th day of the New Year and also the first New Moon of the year. We have successfully lived through the first week of 2008 which I am calling "The Year of the Waking Buddha" (see my letter from New Year's Day)...      read more »

"Year of the Waking Buddha"

Dear mindful friends,

Today is the first day of a very exciting year in spiritual history.

2007 was a year of equanimity, of letting go, of patience and of expanding our horizons. It was a year of recovering our foundations (1st chakra); it was the beginnings of "The Great Shift" in anticipation of a possible future "Global Awakening." And it was a "wake-up call" year.      read more »

August is "Committing to the Path of Awakening" Month. And I am encouraging you to examine your life today and this week to see what you would like to do in order to commit yourself more fully to the Path of Awakening.

According to some studies, it takes about 3-4 months (which is about 108 days) to effectively change an old habit and form a new habit. I want to challenge you to make a commitment starting sometime this month for 108 days -- a commitment to forming a new habit of daily meditation at home, weekly meditation with a group, a monthly "Day of Mindfulness" retreat (alone or with a group), and a quarterly weekend retreat (as well as an annual weeklong retreat, if that is within your means)...      read more »