Wise Attention Blog
Wise Attention includes 20 years of writing exploring 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
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
The New Buddhism: an Interview with David Brazier
David Brazier discovered Buddhism in the 1960’s and followed it as a personal spiritual quest and an outlet for his social idealism. The New Buddhism challenges the views of many western Buddhists, proposing a focus on the earliest Buddhist teachings and social activism
The Big Bang, the Buddha and the Baby Boom
The hippy discovery of Buddhism (along with a cacophony of Eastern teachers and new ideas) is an important part of western Buddhist history. Wes Nisker’s memoir evokes the era and comically reflects on his generation’s trajectory with satire, irony and sincerity
Shakespeare’s Wisdom: The Buddha and Richard II
What is Shakespeare’s Wisdom and how does it match up to the Buddha’s? In this article I explore Shakespeare’s Richard II as a play about belief and identity, which are core concerns of Buddhism, and suggest parallels between Shakespeare’s insights and those of the Buddha
Mindfulness vs Drugs in Managing Depression
The $3 billion fine against GlaxoSmithKline for mis-selling antidepressants and other medication reveals the commercialisation of mental healthcare. But an alternative to medication is learning to manage your states of mind. Mindfulness-based approaches that draw on Buddhist practice are making that a realistic alternative to Big Pharma
Translating Emptiness: a Meeting with Stephen Batchelor
When the Buddhist writer and philosopher, Stephen Batchelor, published Verses From the Center: A Buddhist Vision of the Sublime I met him to discuss his new poetic translation of a seminal text by Nagarjuna that explores the seemingly mysterious subject of emptiness or sunyata
Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain
This book gives a rare insight into two leading western Buddhist movements: the Tibetan-derived New Kadampa Tradition and the Zen Buddhist Order of Buddhist Contemplatives