Mindfulness--whether in meditation or in daily life--involves awareness, nonjudgment, and acceptance of what is. For most of us, however, judgment of whatever we encounter happens automatically, leading to a lack of compassion for ourselves as well as others. Lama Nancy will talk about unconditional positive regard and how we can cultivate it even if don't necessarily have much experience of it. Learning to accept everybody as they really makes our life much easier while making the world […]

IS EMPTINESS REALLY EMPTY?  Emptiness is one of the most misunderstood concepts in Buddhist philosophy, which is not surprising given that it cannot be fully explained in words and is counterintuitive to our normal perception of everyday reality. As the well-known description in the Heart Sutra–“Form is emptiness and emptiness is form”–suggests, there’s a lot more to understand than, well, “nothing.” By examining the ways in which nothing exists separately, independently, and permanently on its own, we […]