Host Michael Taft interviews meditation teacher Wystan about teaching awakening outside a strict lineage framework, cultural translation of Buddhist practice, why awakening does not “come with a Buddhist label,” the tension between preserving traditional forms… Read More »A Conversation with Wystan
Henry Shukman is a teacher in the Sanbo Zen lineage and is the Guiding Teacher of Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Henry is an award-winning poet and author of several books,… Read More »Transcript of Talking about Zen Koans, with Henry Shukman
Guided Meditation with Michael Taft The world of our perceptions is a fabrication of the mind. We do not perceive the external world directly, but rather through the inputs of our sense organs. This input… Read More »The World Is Inside You
Michael Taft leads a 55 minute guided meditation at the San Francisco Dharma Collective. Relaxing attention until awareness is even in all directions, and the mind appears like sky. Interested in nondual meditation? Click here… Read More »Discovering Sky-like Mind
Michael Taft speaks with Erik Davis about author Robert Anton Wilson, anarchism in the 1970s, Terrence McKenna, P.K. Dick, psychedelics, cultures of awakening now and then, Zen practice, and more. Erik Davis is an author,… Read More »Robert Anton Wilson, High Weirdness, and Buddhist Meditation – with Erik Davis
(A transcript of Deconstructing Yourself podcast episode DY 016. Please let me know if there are any errors in the text.) Michael Taft: Welcome to deconstructing yourself, the podcast for modern mutants interested in mindfulness,… Read More »Roshi Joan Halifax on Standing at the Edge
Roshi Joan Halifax speaks with host Michael W. Taft about her new book, Standing at the Edge, the shadow sides of altruism, empathy, integrity, respect, engagement, and rays of hope in current times. Roshi Joan… Read More »Standing at the Edge – with Roshi Joan Halifax
by Michael W. Taft There is a classic story about the Indian monk Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen, that goes like this: One day while Bodhidharma was facing a wall (i.e. meditating), the monk Huike… Read More »You Don’t Exist — and Neither Does this Post
from Brown University Though it has gained popularity in the West as medically and psychologically beneficial, meditation can produce a much wider variety of outcomes, not all of them calm and relaxing, according to a… Read More »Study Documents Range Of Challenging Meditation Experiences
By James Kingsland for The Guardian It may seem unlikely, but a small and growing body of evidence suggests that regular meditation can indeed slow aging, at least at a cellular level. Do people who… Read More »Could Meditation Really Help Slow The Aging Process?
By Jessica Graham “There is a huge amount of freedom that comes to you when you take nothing personally.” ― Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom I spent this past… Read More »Good Night Moon
Love it or hate it, the world’s religions are in no danger of disappearing any time soon. But that doesn’t mean religious and spiritual sensibilities aren’t going to evolve. To learn more about religion’s future,… Read More »Zen Priest on the Future of Spirituality
By Jacqueline Howard for The Huffington Post Meditation and mindfulness aren’t just buzz words. A growing body of scientific research shows that the simple act of sitting still in thought confers long-term health benefits —… Read More »This Practice May Boost Intelligence And Lower Stress By Re-Wiring Your Brain