As someone who leads regularly donation-based events, is steeped in a Buddhist tradition that has existed entirely on donation for 2,600 years, and lives in a community where donation-based events are bountiful, one question I often encounter is, “what is the appropriate amount to give?”

What follows is a guide on how to approach that question.  However, I’m not going to actually tell you “the appropriate amount of give,” as that sort of misses the entire point!

Instead, I hope to show you the intentions behind that offering, different ways to think about appropriateness, and hopefully empower you to make your own informed decisions. Continue reading →

This resource guide is the fruit of 15 years of intensive dharma studies.  I tried to put the best of everything I’ve encountered into an accessible, progressive guide to help you deepen your own journey. It felt like an impossible task to make it readable, but with the table of contents, hopefully it will flow smooth enough!

Here’s a few initial notes:

1) This guide will emphasize “depth” into a single tradition (Theravada-Vipassana Buddhist Meditation / mindfulness / insight meditation), but also “breadth,” exploring how other resources/teachings can really help to expose blindspots, develop complementary skills, and take us much deeper.

2) Books & media are helpful, but actual direct experience is what makes the real changes – pay close attention to the resources to actually dive into meditation, such as guided meditations, courses and live opportunities.

3) I’ve direct linked to anything available free online, although basically all of these are also available as hardcopies for sale, and some as audiobooks.  While free is great, I personally prefer mediums that don’t involve looking at a screen, so I’d generally recommend printing them, or buying the book / audiobook.

May this be of benefit to you!

The Quick & Fast Version – Top Recommendations

You’re about to encounter an enormous guide that might seem overwhelming, so I thought I’d right away offer my top recommendations that get right to the point.  Feel free to only read this.

1. For beginners to Eastern Spirituality, try The Dalai Lama’s The Art of Happiness.  If you are more intellectually inclined, go for Sam Harris’ Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality without Religion.  Inversely, if you are going through a tough time, try Pema Chodron’s When Things Fall Apart.
2. If you already know you want to explore Buddhism or Meditation, skip #1 and go right to Gil Fronsdal’s book, The Issue at Hand, which is a concise & excellent intro to Buddhism and meditation.  Also read my short article on Insight Meditation just for good measure!
3. Build on #2, and listen to Gil’s free 6 week Insight Meditation Course (or if you got some $ and are committed to learning meditation, try this in-depth online meditation course).
4. Build on #3, and read my teacher’s very short book, Don’t Look Down on the Defilements, They Will Laugh At You.
   
5. Build on # 4, and listen to Gil’s free 6 week intermediate-level Insight Meditation Course.
6. Broaden your practice by reading:
   1. Bhikkhu Bodhi – The Noble Eightfold Path.  Short & straightforward, perhaps the best book I’ve read that explains the greater Buddhist framework.
   2. Robert Augustus Masters – Spiritual Bypassing.  It important to learn how meditation can be used to avoid our wounding vs. genuinely heal, transform & grow.
   3. Kristin Neff – Self-Compassion.  Also check out the meditations and exercises on her website.  Meditation without heart falls flat – important to find some way to bring it in.
   4. Adyashanti – True Meditation.  Peppering our meditation with a little non-dual simplicity helps ground us in the essence of the practice.
7. Keep Practicing!
   1. Try Insight Timer, get involved with a local community, go on a retreat, commit to practicing everyday, even if only five minutes!
   2. Parooze the rest of this list at your leisure.

Studying Theravada-Vipassana Meditation

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Question:  Is it possible to be mindful while being intensely focused on something like studying, or being “in the zone”?

Answer:  Hello there, it depends on how you are focusing.  For example, if you are intensely focused on your studies, and a fly starts buzzing around your ear, how do you react?  If you start to get really annoyed, and then ten minutes goes by, and you realize you’re “out of the zone” and are in a bad mood, this isn’t what mindfulness is about.

Inversely, you’re on the right track if you’re able to notice, “oh, a fly is buzzing, no problem, just some sounds in the background, I’ll keep on with my studies.”  In other words, in mindfulness practice, focus needs to be paired with an eye to self-understanding or “wisdom,” noticing our different reactions, emotions and thoughts.   This aspect of “wisdom” helps us have more choice & freedom in life – which is the ultimate aim of mindfulness.  Most people find it really helpful to develop this through “formal practice,” but you can absolutely do it through other activities too.

It has a bit of Buddhist jargon, but I found this short article really insightful – it tells the story of when someone asked when of the top Buddhist meditation masters of the 20th century, “what is the difference between rock climbing and meditation?”

Question:   Hi David, I’m wondering how I should sit when meditating? I can comfortably sit with my legs crossed but I am worried about my posture.

Answer:  Hello there, the first thing to know is that there is no such thing as the “best posture.” The point of the posture is to help ourselves feel relaxed and alert, so we can engage in our meditation. This is usually aided by having a straight spine, keeping our knees either at the same level as our hips or lower, and remaining relatively still. Different postures work best for different people, but if you can sit comfortably with legs crossed, this sounds great – keep at it!

If any mild discomfort starts to come up, the idea is to notice your worries and other reactions, and see if you can allow them to be there. Usually once you notice them, they tend to fade away. However, if the discomfort becomes stronger, or it becomes really painful, then it’s actually really wise to shift your posture. Just consciously notice that you’re doing it!

Why Spiritual Teachers are Important

Someone once asked the Dalai Lama if it was necessary to have a guru or spiritual teacher.  He said, “no, it’s not necessary, but it can save you a lot of time.”

Over my years of diving deep into Yoga & Buddhism, dabbling in several other traditions, and conversing with hundreds of other seekers, I’ve come to strongly agree with the Dalia Lama’s quote.

While the deepest truth is always inside us, a teacher helps point the way when we’re uncertain or stagnated, and likewise inspires or nudges us to keep on going forward.

Having a good teacher is considerably more effective than doing it alone.

However, a bad teacher can leave us the same or even worse than when we started.

In extreme cases, this might be the guru who sleeps with their students against their will.  In lighter cases, perhaps they just lead use to a false finish line, where we think we’ve “got it all figured out,” but are actually quite off course.  In other words, since it’s really helpful to have a good teacher, an essential question is:

How to evaluate a spiritual teacher?

The rest of this guide will break this question down into four major components.  Here’s the outline:

1) Way of Being (and a story)
2) Ethics, Integrity & Accountability
3) Accessibility (and how communities can be teachers) 
4) Their Actual Teachings
5) Conclusion

Note: for me, “a spiritual teacher” isn’t anything mystical or fancy; it’s simply a guide, mentor, or anyone who helps us into a deeper experience of what life is all about. Continue reading →

In another post, I listed every single Buddhist meditation group in Portland, Oregon.  Today’s post is both a counterpart to that one, and also a more general piece that speaks to meditation communities in any location.  Here’s the rough outline of this post:

1) The major reasons why meditation groups are worthwhile
2) What to look for in a meditation group (objectively)
3) What to look for in a meditation group (subjectively)
4) Concluding challenge

As a note, I use the words community, group and sangha interchangeably — a collection of people that gather together to deepen their meditation/spiritual practice (internally, with each other, and in the world). Continue reading →

Intro to Buddhism & Meditation in Portland

When I first arrived in Portland, I spent countless hours both online and conversing with others trying to find the various Buddhist communities in town.  After some years of exploration, I’ve learned every single Buddhist group in Portland (I think!), and have organized them here on this page.

At the time of writing, I’ve personally visited about half of these groups.  However, I am not offering any specific endorsements.  The intention of this page is merely to state the options.  I will try my best to keep my comments factual and data-focused.

At the same time, it’s really helpful to have a framework on how to evaluate a meditation group.  There are some things we all want (like integrity and kindness), but there are also different desires (like prioritizing meditation instruction vs. community, or a strong teacher vs non-hierarchy, etc.).

In a companion post, I offer an in-depth guide on how to evaluate & choose a meditation group/community.  I highly recommend reading that article, and to consider what you’re looking for in a community.  This will greatly help you navigate which ones are “for you” and which ones aren’t.

Although, the best test is always just checking a few of them out and getting a feel for what seems to resonate.

A Few Final Notes to Keep in Mind:

• While every center has its own flavor, some centers have multiple groups throughout the week, led by different instructors, and may have a very different feel.  It can be helpful to check out multiple groups at the same center!
• You don’t need to “join,” “sign up” or go through any “initiation” process to go to any of these groups.  You just show up, and are free to never come again, or keep coming back as long as you like!
• You also don’t need to be a Buddhist.  In general, Buddhist communities tend to be very inclusive, and aren’t interested in converting anyone.
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I’ve previously written an in-depth guide to meditation retreat — why do it, where to go, and what to look for in choosing one.  Today, I wanted to give an inside look at my recent retreat.

I spent three weeks by myself in a rustic cabin deep in the Cascade-Siskiyou Wilderness, devoted to the practice of Vipassana meditation.

On an outward level, here’s what it looked like:

• Woke up around 5 or 6am, and went to bed between 11pm and 12am.
• Ate two meals a day – no snacks, caffeine or beverages (apart from water)
• Did around 10 hours a day of sitting meditation, an hour of yoga, an of hour of mindful hiking, and an hour of dharma talks
• Had two interactions with a human throughout the three weeks – each lasted about 5 minutes, and revolved around getting more water in the cabin.

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Note: These days, I don’t often write or even talk about politics, social justice or the state of the world — my focus is more on individual hearts and minds. 

However, I used to be very involved in this arena.  Perhaps the climax was a year I spent living with an activist collective in Southern Mexico, doing social justice and community development work with oppressed peoples.  Since then, my views and thoughts haven’t changed much, just my approach/tactics (which you can see throughout this site).

In any case, last year I had an unfortunate encounter with the police that still occasionally cycles through my mind, so today I feel compelled to share the story, and some reflections I have on race, privilege, and what sort of reaction/feelings/intentions it leaves me with.  Here goes:

I rent an office space a couple days a week in a residential Portland neighborhood.  One day about an hour before dusk, a client had recently left, and I was sitting inside the office doing a little final computer work.

Suddenly, I head some aggressive banging on my door, as if with a twenty pound hammer.  I wasn’t expecting anyone, so I ignored it for a little bit.  But as the banging kept going, I went to the door to see what was going on.  As soon as I opened the door, I saw two police officers with a scary-looking canine. Continue reading →