Wise Attention Blog
The writing on this site explores what it means to practice Buddhism, mindfulness and ethics in the modern world. You'll find reviews, , talks, interviews, broadcasts and reflection on the arts as well as reflections on the Buddha and Buddhist teachings
Thought for the Day
Arts
Buddhism in the Modern World
Book Reviews
Bradley Manning & the Ethics of Communication
Imagine you are Bradley Manning in 2009: a low-ranking US intelligence officer stationed in Iraq with access to vast amounts of diplomatic and military data. You discover much that you consider unethical. So do you keep quiet, or do you leak the information, risking the prospect of decades in military prison?
Buddhism and Abortion
Buddhism has traditionally opposed abortion, while tolerating its practice. Exploring this difficult territory means looking at ethics from a Buddhist perspective and considering how we balance compassion for the unborn child and for the mother
Richard III and the Buddha
The discovery of the skeleton of Richard III in a Leicester car park has sparked worldwide interest. What does it tell us about our relationship with the figures that shape our sense of history or with the Buddha
Mindful Weight Loss: Fasting and Eating Habits
Why is it so hard to maintain weight-loss diets? Fasting is a time-honoured practice that brings more awareness to eating and helps us shift long-standing habits
Books on the Karmapa Controversy
Two rival candidates currently claim the position of Karmapa, leader of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. The controversy has split the school and prompted a flurry of books describing the conflict. But what is really going on in this dispute, and why have westerners been caught up in it? Here’s a review of three of those books and another exploring western responses to Tibetan Buddhism
UK Parliament Debates Mindfulness
Chris Ruane, the MP for the Vale of Clwyd in North Wales initiated a debate in the UK House of Commons on mindfulness, especially focusing on how it can help the unemployed.
Pilgrimage to Auschwitz
Some years ago I attended a Bearing Witness Retreat at Auschwitz concentration camp. It as a sobering, but deeply stirring experience.
Marketing wants your attention: choose wisely where you pay it
Advertising, marketing and retail promotions all want something from us: time, attention and money. How can Buddhism help us notice and withstand their effect?
How The Buddha Discovered Nature
In the Buddha’s world, nature and the wilderness were frightening threats. The early Buddhist texts show how he forged a new relationship with nature, opening the way for the beautiful nature poetry of his followers
We’re Vulnerable, So We Should Care for the World
We’re Vulnerable, as bad weather shows. Buddhism teaches that we suffer if we don’t acknowledge that. And as the UK debates it’s future energy supplies, that means we should consider deeply how our actions will affect the planet. Thought for the Day 24/12/2012
Reading Emptiness: Reflecting on Buddhism and Literature
There’s a tantalising affinity between Buddhist views of the insubstantial nature of the self and sophisticated ideas about the illusions created by literary texts. But there are also profound differences between Buddhist spiritual practice and nihilistic deconstruction
Prajnaparamita Puja
These verses are devoted to Prajnaparamita: the female Wisdom Buddha. They are written for recitation as a puja, a ritual intended to inspire faith in the possibility of gaining the deepest Wisdom and devotion to the path that leads to it
Gateways to the Imaginal: an Interview With Harold Bloom
Literary Critic Harold Bloom believes that art, literature and religious traditions can all offer ways in to a realm of intensified meaning and beauty. Vishvapani met him to discuss his ideas and explore affinities with Buddhism.
Secular Mindfulness & Buddhism (2) A Wider View of Mindfulness
Buddhism offers an expanded view of mindfulness which places it in a coherent vision of human life, while many Buddhists themselves can offer the example of lived based around committed practice
Secular Mindfulness & Buddhism (1) Mining Buddhism
Buddhist mindfulness practices are being used in settings from healthcare to corporate stress management and military training. This is the secular Mindfulness Movement. But can what else can mainstream society learn from Buddhism, and what does a Buddhist context add to the view of mindfulness itself?
Right Speech: new online talk for Tricycle
My online retreat on Tricycle.com is in its third week with a talk on Communicating with Meaning. This talk and last week's are only for Tricycle members, but the first talk – Communicating with Truthfulness – is available to all. Next week's talk is on Harmonious...
Ten Tips for Skilful Communication
Communication is a huge part of our lives. All our relationships depend on it, but it often seems to go wrong and we can react or lose patience, even with people we’re close to. Here are some suggestions for developing our communication with the help of mindfulness.
Seeking the Buddha in History
The Buddha of history is not the same as the archetypal Buddha, but we can come close to him through the words he left behind and though imagination. This article was a keynote talk at the 2011 Triratna Buddhist Order Convention and reveals the Buddha to be a man of humour and intelligence with an uncanny gift for communication as well … and something more as well
Suffering and the Defects of Samsara (Four Reminders 4)
A reflection on suffering and unsatisfactoriness (dukkha) – the motivation for deciding that ‘I must change the way I see the world’
Karma: Actions Have Consequences (Four Reminders 3)
Reflection on karma: our actions have consequences for better or for worse
Reflection on Death: Four Reminders (2)
Here is my version of the second of the four reminders (also called the Four Preliminary Reflections): reflection on death and mortality.
This Precious Opportunity: Four Reminders (1)
The Four Reminders are guided reflections on what Buddhism considers the basic facts of life. Turning them over is a way of reminding ourselves of what we know, but forget and jolting ourselves into activity. Here’s my version of the first of those reflections on the precious opportunity this life offers us
Responding to Praise and Blame
A vivid account in one of the earliest Buddhist texts describes how the Buddha guided his disciples in responding skilfully to both praise and blame. The story is full of his wisdom about how we can avoid harming ourselves or others through our speech and how we can navigate through life while maintaining mindfulness and equanimity
Hillsborough: Cover-up and Group Think
23 Years after the Hillsborough disaster, when 96 people were crushed to death in a UK soccer match, a government-commissioned independent report has concluded that police failures contributed to the tragedy; more lives could have been saved; and the police mounted a cover up. How does group pressure lead ordinary people to do wrong?
Six Elements: Modern Poems and Buddhist Reflections
Last week a Buddhist friend organised a celebration of the elements, inviting contributions to his Facebook page. This stimulated me to look out some favourite works, mostly modern and mostly poems. Here is an cento on the Buddhist elements – earth, water, fire, air, space and consciousness – with some comments:
Learning meditation from the Buddha: a meeting with Ven Analayo
I met German-born Analayo some years ago when he was living a life of intensive meditation and study in a small retreat centre in Sri Lanka. He told me how his study of the Buddha’s original meditation teaching had led him to question established approaches to practice
Ghostwritten: a Buddhist Novel?
David Mitchell’s Ghostwritten is a novel for the interconnected, globalised times in which we are buffeted among billions; it offers a neural network of thought, not so much an argument as ideas whirring like minds, and interacting like electrons. Was it the first Dharma novel of the millennium?
Buddhism and Drugs
New research shows that teenage cannabis use causes lasting damage. As well as the physiological damage, Buddhism suggests that drugs are about avoiding experience rather than engaging mindfully with it
Street Zen: The Life and Work of Issan Dorsey
in his life before Buddhism, Issan Dorsey was a ‘bad drag queen’. But at the San Francisco Zen Centre he was a bodhisattva for a gay community blighted by AIDS. This biography vividly evokes the extraordinary life of this ordinary Buddhist
The Olympic Honours Row: What Do We Value?
Should Olympic gold medallists automatically be recognised in the Honours System, or should honours should only go to athletes who have ‘given something back’ to society? The discussion means reflecting on what we value and who we should honour. Thought for the Day