Cultivating Joy and Happiness from a talk by Lisa Glueck The Dalai Lama tells us that the purpose of life is to be happy. This is not a hedonistic statement, but is based on understanding that true happiness grows out…
SnowFlower Sun April 2019
Silent Illumination Meditation from a talk by Susan O’Leary Our lineage through Thich Nhat Hanh is in the Linji (‘Rinzai’ in Japanese) Zen tradition. For me, the most important and deepest teaching in Zen is that nothing is separate. Nothing.…
SnowFlower Sun December 2018
A Priceless Gift from a talk by Mary Michal As we approach the Holidays, how can we as practitioners bring our practice to the essence of the season? In our culture it is easy to get wrapped up in busyness,…
Meet MOSES (Madison Organizing in Strength, Equality and Solidarity)
It’s been wonderful to have so many new SnowFlower participants in the last two years! This article is to update everyone about MOSES because SnowFlower was one of its founding members and has been a financial supporter for 6 years.…
SnowFlower Sun – September & October 2018
SnowFlower Sun – September & October 2018
Creation of SnowFlower
First Steps on the Journey How SnowFlower Sangha began is discussed in Thich Nhat Hanh’s Friends on the Path, a book that is actually a compilation of essays as edited by Jack Lawlor. In one such essay, longtime SnowFlower member…
How SnowFlower Got Its Name
by Karuna Namenwirth From the windows of the speeding train on the way to Plum Village in the Dordogne region of southwestern France, there were miles and miles of blooming sunflower fields, a magnificent sight to behold. It was easy…
How to Overcome Sanskrit-Pali Anxiety (SPA)
by Curt Pawlisch While not yet listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the “universal authority for psychiatric diagnoses” (according to Wikipedia), many SnowFlower members suffer from Sanskrit-Pali Anxiety or its ironic acronym, SPA. SPA’s symptoms are…
Buddhism on one page
by Larry Mandt The Four Noble Truths Life is hard. Life is hard because we continually want things that aren’t possible. Life becomes easier when we stop wanting things that aren’t possible. We can stop wanting things that aren’t possible…
Open Hearts, Open Arms
We can’t breathe! In Buddhist meditation, our breathing is essential. Anapana, meditation on the breath, was the Buddha’s first meditation instruction and the basis for all further meditative endeavors. Breathing is not only life-sustaining and calming; it is a foremost…