The tradition of the secret Mantrayana Vajrayana teaches that spiritual capacity can only be developed on the bedrock of certainty.

The Practical Practitioner

As practitioners of the buddhadharma—whether we are new or experienced—we practice because we’re unhappy with the miserable state of samsara. In the Vajrayana tradition, we vow to bring temporary comfort and ultimate liberation to each and every sentient being mired in profound suffering, and at times it can be quite difficult to understand how we might possibly achieve such a…

“Meditation Malice” — on working with distractions and resentment

Join Josh Korda, Karen Maezen Miller, and Anyen Rinpoche at “Finding Freedom from Painful Emotions,” this year’s Lion’s Roar retreat at the Garrison Institute, July 29-31. Click here for info and to register. A little over a decade ago I spent my first retreat with a wonderful British Theravada monk—Ajahn Sucitto—and found myself arriving to the meditation center with an…

VIDEO: Father Thomas Keating on Contemplation, Social Change, and the Internet

How do you change a world culture that is, in many ways, going in the opposite direction of love at top speed? This is the question at the heart of a recent wide-ranging conversation between Garrison Institute co-founder Jonathan Rose and Garrison Institute Spiritual Advisor Father Thomas Keating. They begin their conversation by discussing contemplation in the schools, which can…

What Garrison Means to Me: Joy Baum

Joy Baum is a photographer, weaver and meditation teacher. In addition to these pursuits, Joy has a professional background in psychology, education and counseling. These different strands of her journey have, in various ways, led her to the Garrison Institute, where she has been participating in programs for over seven years. We caught up with her recently to discuss what…

How Mindfulness Can Transform the Classroom

“How are things going for you?” I asked Jan, a fourth-grade teacher participating in the federally funded research project being conducted in New York City. Jan had just completed the first two days of the CARE for Teachers mindfulness-based teacher professional development program and I had called her for a phone coaching session to see how she was doing as…

Ep 2: Practicing Change with Sharon Salzberg

Welcome to the second episode of the Climate, Mind and Behavior Podcast. Each episode, we’ll explore groundbreaking intersections between human behavior, resilience, climate change and contemplative practice. Sharon Salzberg is a meditation teacher and New York Times best-selling author. She is the co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and has played a crucial role in bringing Buddhist…

Really Getting to Know Yourself

One way to view the human mind is as a complex system made up of multiple sub-personalities, each with competing needs and agendas. This can make it difficult to make decisions, feel content, and, ultimately, relate to other people. In this conversation, Josh Korda and Jessica Morey explore techniques that can help us make sense of these sub-personalities.

From Stress Reduction to Systems Change

Nearly 20 years after first being introduced to the legal profession, mindfulness is becoming a powerful force—not only for individual wellness and effectiveness, but also for transforming the profession in areas such as discrimination law, judicial training, and criminal justice. Next month, a diverse group of legal professionals, law teachers, and law students will explore these exciting new developments as…