This is a short excerpt from Death and Dying in Buddhism, a publication from Off the Dock, an imprint of Canadian Outdoor Press. It should be clear as mountain air that no one, no human being, nor animal nor plant nor smallest microbe manages to escape death. It’s the ultimate end of everyone now living or that ever will live. There is no “cure” for it and no avoiding it. Your religion, spiritual practice, health regime, fit body, medication and wealth will not alter the u

What is Suffering? - An excerpt from Pain and Suffering in Buddhism. Suffering is distinctly different from pain, but it is often confused for pain – the two words are frequently used interchangeably. Suffering may be thought of as an uncomfortable or negative emotional reaction to unwanted circumstances. Sometimes these circumstances will be getting things you don’t want or having things happen to you that you wanted to avoid. Sometimes we might suffer over not getting wh

An excerpt from the book Death and dying in Buddhism Death is the ultimate threat to ego. Upon death of the physical body, the ego also dies. The body likely doesn’t even know it’s alive, but the ego knows of its own existence and (to borrow a few words from Dylan Thomas) will not go gentle into that good night, but rage, rage against the dying of the light. The ego has built itself from constant activity and it’s ramparts reinforced with bustle. The ego likes to keep busy

An afternoon with Sharon Fitzhenry. My mind spends way too much time in the future. It plans, projects, predicts and then does it all again. It analyses things to death, well before they’ve ever happened. “What work needs doing, who will do it, what resources do they need? What happens if X?” I suspect it’s one of the things that make us different from the animal mind. Being able to reasonably forecast consequences of actions is a key human quality. Of course we need to

An excerpt from Consequences in Buddhism; Why Things Happen. There is rarely just one specific thing that causes someone to have something happen to them. We live in a world that is complex, integrated, interdependent and constantly in a state of flux. We miss most of that and generally focus on our own immediate needs and what’s happening in our immediate world. We too often forget that there are many things happening all around us that affect to us – often things we can’

Excerpt from My Buddhist Journal; A Year in the Life of a Buddhist ... and that begs the question, “Is there a higher form of happiness that is less transient?” It turns out there may be. And on to still another Buddhist list and a higher form of happiness 1 loving-kindness or benevolence 2 compassion 3 empathetic joy 4 equanimity Love and kindness. We want this intention to manifest itself in some physical form. It’s not merely saying I have the intention of kindness, bu

An excerpt from My Buddhist Journal; A Year in the Life of a Buddhist The board game Mouse Trap was the real eye opener for me. I just had to have it and bugged my parents for months before Christmas. Finally, I got the game in a beautifully wrapped package on Christmas morning. I loved the game and played it with my two sisters and parents. I played it with my friends and a couple of school chums. I even played it by myself. Then it snowed in the middle of January and