What Is That One Thing?

(Back from two and a half week retreat with Ruth Denison, at Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center, I am devoting the next few weeks to sharing Ruth's wonderful teachings.)

Learning to Cultivate the Body with Ruth.

Ruth opened the retreat with a teaching about the body. 

"The body is like a jewelry box from which to give and receive."

Over and over, she had us return to the body, whether sitting, standing, dancing, walking, eating, smelling a flower, listening to music, breathing, chanting,  gardening . . . urging us to pay attention. "Then there is no room for the hindrances."

With Ruth, sitting meditation is not just sitting, but rather a whole dance with the body. First prepping the body, with movement and vocalizations. Then, sweeping the body from feet to head, head to feet.  Several times. Part by part, sensing into the body. Then focusing on the subtleties of the breath.  Sensing the air in front of the lips, and following each breath precisely as it enters the middle of the nostrils, then going up the nose into the trachea, into the lungs, belly rising . . . visualizing, to make up for our still gross awareness. Realizing that we are never alone that way:

"You are never deserting yourself. You are always in company - the kind that will never leave you."

Always with the breath as primary focus, and when that proves too elusive for our still tenuous attention, falling back on the body, sitting, as secondary focus.
       
Back from the retreat, sitting at home, I remember

Body sitting, quiet,
being breathed;
mind alert.

and that is usually enough to bring me back whenever the mind wanders.

Ruth is known for her skillfulness with the body. I went to her wondering what to do about familiar experience of irritation and tightness in the throat and the stomach. In the past, I had followed other teachers' instructions to linger on the unpleasantness, and it had not worked. Ruth had a different take. "Don't focus on it. The energy is blocked there. Turn your attention to your hands instead, and feel them. Slowly move them up and down. Do you notice any change? What do you feel?  Now open and close them. Feeling anything? Then now, rest your hands on your lap, and feel." So simple. 

Actually, not so simple. I could hardly feel my hands. I felt like a child needing to learn my way through the world of body and sensations. Thinking thoughts, feeling emotions, that I could do. But being in my body, that was another matter. 

A few days, it took me before I could feel that I was coming to my senses, literally. I wrote, 'Feeling that I am only now starting to inhabit my body, all of it. Body as a place of refuge.  Unlike before, when I used to reluctantly dwell in body. Finding joy in walking, sitting, standing . . .'

Ruth ended the retreat the same way she started. With the body:

There is one thing that when cultivated and regularly practiced leads to deep spiritual intention, to peace, to mindfulness and clear comprehension, to vision and knowledge, to a happy life here and now, and to the culmination of wisdom and awakening. And what is that one thing? Mindfulness centered on the body. ~ Anguttara Nikaya I, 21 ~

If the body is not cultivated, the mind cannot be cultivated. If the body is cultivated then the mind can be cultivated. ~ Majjhima Nikaya 36 ~

Holding strong to this simple method, and always going back to the body.

Empty Houses in the Desert

(Back from two and a half week retreat with Ruth Denison, at Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center, I am devoting the next few weeks to sharing Ruth's wonderful teachings.)

Every day, walking through the Mojave desert, I became fascinated with the empty houses strewn throughout the arid landscape. 

Pink house, 

all boarded up.

Boarded pink house in Mojave Desert.

Old house, looted,
nothing left to be had.

Looted house in Mojave Desert.

House of brick,
structure still intact.

Empty house of bricks in Mojave Desert.

Soulful wooden house,
begging to be visited.

Wooden empty house in Mojave Desert.

Dilapidated house,
and a brand new fence.

Fenced up empty house in Mojave Desert.

Houses, empty,
many of them.

And I thought of my  body, and the way I used to not be there.
I thought of most people's bodies, and the way they fail to inhabit
these most precious structures of theirs.
Empty, no life any more.
Empty, no life yet.

(impressions from retreat with Ruth, about learning to inhabit my body - following Ruth's lead - coming to my senses)

The Will to Love

The Dalai Lama makes a big deal of kindness:

"My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness."

I agree with him, kindness, love, whatever you call it, is the supreme human quality, that which makes live worth living. 

Next comes the question, of how to be kind? Before I knew better, I used to think of love as a random occurence. Sometimes I felt moved to love, sometimes the opposite happened. In it stead, came hate, or indifference. Some people I found easy to love, others I called a pain, or downright nasty. The conditions had to be right . . . 

Now, I have changed my view, and I have come to the conclusion that love is an act of will, to be exercised moment to moment. Paying attention to the mind's constant stirrings, I catch myself often with a thought that could take me down an unwanted path, if I let it. Just one thought in the privacy of my mind, that's baiting me to move away, divide, judge, react, distrust . . . Just one thought begging to be said out loud, and do permanent damage, to myself and others . . . Just one thought with the potential to be acted out, down the line . . . Just one thought . . .

From having gone down the unwanted path, many times before, and watching others do the same, I have learned a big lesson. Left unchecked, a single unloving thought can create havoc in its wake. Words, said hastily, and leaving permanent wounds or grudges. Wrong actions, whose karmic effects can be felt for years, and sometimes one's entire life. So much unnecessary suffering, starting with just one little thought!

Of course, even with the best of intentions, there are moments still, when a careless word slips out too fast, or a wrongful deed takes place, and I am left with remorse, and the humbling reflections of my very imperfect human nature. A dangerous space where self-loathing lurks . . . A time to practice patience, and self-acceptance. An opportunity to open the heart, and apologize. A necessary step along the way of understanding and love. The more I feel the sting of my misdeeds, the more vigilant and willing I become to guard against the untamed mind.

On the receiving end also, lie plenty of opportunities to practice. Forgiving others for their own imperfections, particularly those without a vantage point from which to assess their thoughts. They are letting their unruly mind rule their lives. There is much compassion to be had there.

Playing with Sounds

(Back from two and a half week retreat with Ruth Denison, at Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center, I am devoting the next few weeks to sharing Ruth's wonderful teachings.)

A Concentration Technique for Sitting Meditation.

A few minutes into our early morning sitting,  I heard the familiar sound of Ruth's cane  outside, door opening, shoes taken off, and soon the surprise of Ruth clearing her voice, very loudly, unapologetically, as she was making her way to the front of the zendo. "ok, now you do it." Ruth was inviting us to join her. Clearing our throat . . .  then coughing . . . then swallowing three times, mindfully, then playing around with making sounds with each out breath,

a................

o................

ou..............

ou..............

o................

a................

ay..............

i.................

u................

u................

i.................

e...............

out loud, then silently, on our own, settling back into sitting meditation. 

Using the sounds to support concentration, and continuing until concentration is established. "This is very fine work" says Ruth. 

Indeed . . .

The Catches Are Plentiful

(Back from two and a half week retreat with Ruth Denison, at Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center, I am devoting the next few weeks to sharing Ruth's wonderful teachings.)
 
Bringing Feminine Wisdom Into the Field of Contemplative Neuroscience.

One afternoon, Venerable Madika, one of the two nuns in residence at Dhamma-Dena entertained us with stories of  her participation in Richard Davidson's neuroplasticity experiments at University of Wisconsin, part of his ongoing research to test the positive effects of meditation on the brain. A discussion ensued about the merits and potential pitfalls of viewing mindfulness practice under the lens of neuroscience. I found Ruth's take particularly refreshing:

May all neuroscientists heed Ruth's gentle  call for wisdom, as they carry out their work:

"Stay low to the ground

Live close to the Earth

Don't go too far away from your heart . . . "

May they beware of intellectualizing the practice, and of greed, and righteousness, and other wrongful strivings from the ego that may spoil their efforts.

A Very Old Woman

I made a wonderful new friend today. Lotus is 96 and a long time student of Sogan Rinpoche. The occasion was a Tsok celebration at Rinpoche's home. When I told Lotus about our  Mindfulness-Based Dementia Care Project, she lit up. It turns out Lotus knows a lot about dementia care and mindfulness. Her husband died of Alzheimer's and so did her mother-in-law.  She too came to the realization of the importance of adopting a different way of being with the 'forgetful' ones.  And she has been taking action at the assisted living where she lives. Lotus told me about the aide that comes to her for advice, almost daily, whenever she can no longer 'handle' one of the residents there. "I talk to her, and then she goes back and is fine for a few days, and then she forgets. She tries to change the other person's reality, when it should be the other way around. But I keep at it with her . . ."

Today, I am grateful for Lotus's inspiration. 

A Change of Heart

(Back from two and a half week retreat with Ruth Denison, at Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center, I am devoting the next few weeks to sharing Ruth's wonderful teachings.)

Bringing the Shadow to Light, with Ruth.

Often with Ruth, we would chant:

I am opening up in deep surrender to the Buddha Dharma in my life.
I am opening up in deep surrender, to the numinous darkness of my shadow.
I am opening up in deep surrender, to the powerful wholeness within myself.

And opening up, to the numinous darkness of my shadow, I certainly did.

I came in angry and complaining about people, and circumstances in my life. The first evening, after I told my story, Ruth set me straight, and asked me to look within myself first. "Awaken to that which is hindering you, and is imprisoning you from your most inner self." And she shared about her own life, and the choices she had made. She talked about her sometimes difficult husband, and how she would respond to him from a place of love. She told us how surprised she had been by the amount of anger often present in women, here in America, particularly toward men. I went to bed, and was met by shadowy figures in the night. 

Woman's Shadow in the Mojave Desert

I dreamt of a woman in her bathrobe, opening the door to a kind man who had come to meet her. She embraced him reluctantly, apologizing for not being properly dressed to receive him. She offered to feed him breakfast but could not find enough food in the fridge to fix him a good breakfast . . . The first in a series of dreams, all on the same theme. Women not ready to meet friendly men willing to love them.     During the ensuing days, I watched as the hindrances came and went, relentlessly. Hindrances, shadow. Same thing. Only, the shadows in my dreams were telling a story that tied together the bursts of anger, and anxiety, and the episodes of  diffuse wanting. Being with myself for a long retreat made it obvious. I needed a change of attitude. 

In my journal, I wrote, 'Inner transformation needs to take place before I can truly honor and nurture masculine part within myself, and also outside. Dhamma Dena is a great place to do that. Coming home to myself.'  As time went on, I could feel the purification taking place inside, physically, emotionally. The anger, the fear, being burnt away by sustained attention, the wise understanding of their irrelevance, and the willingness to slowly open my heart to love. There was nothing to do but endure the unpleasantness with great patience and acceptance of the process, of myself.  Ruth was showing me the way. I knew she had been there and in her I could trust. 

I left the retreat a changed person. Anger, resentments, complaints, projections, helplessness, defensiveness, distrust, fear . . . all gone, burnt away. In their place, love, trust, and openness have taken permanent residence. It's been two weeks now since I came back, and the joy is still there. Some rather wondrous events have taken place in my outer life as well, and I am still in awe of the gift that was bestowed upon me. 

Do you have similar stories to tell of inner transformation? How has your mindfulness practice changed you? I would love to hear. 

Just Cool It!

(Back from two and a half week retreat with Ruth Denison, at Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center, I am devoting the next few weeks to sharing Ruth's wonderful teachings.)

Ruth Denison, Teaching the Subtleties of Walking Meditation - Part II

This is the second in a three-part series of posts on walking meditation, as taught by Ruth. Here she sprinkles her teaching with a good dose of her habitual wit, telling us to "Just cool it!" and not get too excited about enlightenment . . . :)

Walking, walking everywhere with great thoroughness in our attention. 

That Is the Truth

(Back from two and a half week retreat with Ruth Denison, at Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center, I am devoting the next few weeks to sharing Ruth's wonderful teachings.)


The Natural Law of Impermanence.

For the past two days, our house has been permeated with deep sadness. We found Bailey dead in the morning, from a massive heart attack, just like that. A cold, furry lump, that seemed to be sleeping still, except for her eyes, opened. The night before, she had still gone out on a walk with our other two dogs. 

I have been thinking about Ruth's many talks about impermanence.

Bailey coming into our lives, and leaving us. Making very clear the natural law of impermanence. 

"We need to realize - It is only for a short while."

~ Ruth Denison ~

You Have to Be Fast

(Back from two and a half week retreat with Ruth Denison, at Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center, I am devoting the next few weeks to sharing Ruth's wonderful teachings.)

Ruth Denison, Teaching the Subtleties of Walking Meditation.

"First let us stand and notice: just standing. What are the sensations?" 
"Then let's do a few movements to loosen up before we start."
"And now we start walking in circle." 
"Notice 'Lifting - forward - placing'". 
I have heard the same instructions before, from other teachers, but Ruth has a way of saying things that make them stick. This time, I am listening as if for the first time, and am able to really focus on the movements of each foot. Feeling "Lifting - forward - placing". I get into a rhythm with the rest of the group, as we move slowly inside the zendo. 
"Did you notice which lands first, the toes or the heel?" Ruth is urging us to become more precise. "How about the knees?" "And the shift of the weight with each step?" 
Ruth steps out of our circle and grabs a maracas. She asks us to walk to the rhythm of various beats. "Are you listening?" True listening is hard. It requires letting go of thoughts.

Then, Ruth takes us outside, and launches into a brilliant demonstration of how to handle thinking during the course of walking - in response to question from me:

Walking slowly, seeing, thinking, feeling the caress of the desert breeze and the intense heat from the afternoon sun . . . meanwhile being fast, with the mind.

Getting Smart About Dementia and Mindfulness

A number of you have asked me for reading suggestions related to topic of dementia care and mindfulness practice. Below is reading list from Joy of Caring Project presentation I have been giving to professionals in the field:

Family and Professional Care Partners:

Dr. Allen Power -  Dementia Beyond Drugs 
Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle - Ten Thousand Joys & Ten Thousand Sorrows
Nancy Pearce - Inside Alzheimer's
John Zeisel - I'm Still Here

Authors with Early Onset Dementia:

Christine Bryden - Dancing With Dementia
Richard Taylor - Alzheimer's From the Inside Out

Experts on mindfulness science and compassionate care:

John Kabat-Zinn - Full Catastrophe Living
Lucia McBee - Mindfulness Based Elder Care
Saki Santorelli - Heal Thyself
Rick Hanson - Buddha's Brain

May you find it useful in your work of service.

What Am I Feeling?

(Back from two and a half week retreat with Ruth Denison, at Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center, I am devoting the next few weeks to sharing Ruth's wonderful teachings.)

Ruth's Teachings About Feeling Consciousness

Ruth devoted a whole talk to the importance of vedana, or consciousness of three main types of feelings: pleasant, unpleasant, or neither pleasant not unpleasant. 

You need to notice and acknowledge vedana. Asking yourself, what am I feeling now? and noticing the origin either in the body (sensations) or in the mind (thoughts). Vedana is with us at all times. We are always valuing our experience, whether we are conscious of it or not. And we can wake up more for it, we can guard for it, we can be more in relation with it. Or we can let it run our life, always searching for pleasantness.

If you are not aware of the unpleasantness it will snowball and leave the door open for more unpleasantness. If you are aware of the pleasantness, it will also snowball, but in the direction of more pleasantness.  Two big reasons to be aware of vedana at all times . . .

What are YOU feeling right now?

It is interesting to compare with U Tejaniya's approach on the same topic. Also Mingyur Rinpoche's related notion of 'booster of emotions'.

Lost in Translation

(Back from two and a half week retreat with Ruth Denison, at Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center, I am devoting the next few weeks to sharing Ruth's wonderful teachings.)


Sati: Mindfulness, or Empty Mind?

Ruth can be a wordsmith. Ruth does not like the word mindfulness. She thinks it does not do justice to the original pali word, 'sati', that should be translated instead as characteristics of the mind as empty, pure mind with no attributes, whether liking of not liking. The mind as mirror. "You don't get a different face whether you like it or not." There is no room for criticizing.

Ruth' image reminds me of art work I did several years ago. 'My mirror doesn't lie . . .'

'Mon Miroir Ne Ment Pas' - Marguerite Manteau-Rao - 2005
Mirror, photos, embroidered muslin.

In sati, we are being witness, observer without any involvement. There is no reaction, no talk about 'it'. In that state, we can connect with the mind that usually manifests itself as going away. The mind is really reaching out with the intent of finding relief. It is just that we forget by not paying attention, and then become separated from the source. The sati practice is about returning to the source of being. 

We bring empty mind to the position of observer. In a way this is in contradiction with the mindfulness translation of sati. Awareness is a better word than mindfulness. Sati is the mental consciousness that brings knowing. For instance, as we focus on our breathing, we understand what we are doing, and we can acknowledge it. 

A reason for the use of the word 'mindfulness' is a reference to the mind as full of its original nature, that is emptiness. 

I am grateful for Ruth's attention to the word, here. This is especially important given the increasing number of venues where 'mindfulness' is being used. Mindfulness has become a catch-all word for so many different things. It is good to go back to the source. 

What is your understanding of mindfulness?

It's a Method

(Back from two and a half week retreat with Ruth Denison, at Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center, I am devoting the next few weeks to sharing Ruth's wonderful teachings.)

One of Ruth's long-time students shared, "Other Vipassana teachers talk about liberation, but don't tell you how to get there. Ruth does." I found that to be so true. It is clear that Ruth has walked the path, and teaches from a place of deep knowing. In this short video, Ruth touches upon the method involved in Vipassana practice, that relies on the breath, and the mental faculties of investigation and patience:

No mystery. Just a simple method.

Burnt Out

(Back from two and a half week retreat with Ruth Denison, at Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center, I am devoting the next few weeks to sharing Ruth's wonderful teachings.)


Ruth's Lesson On How to Deal With the Hindrances.

Twelve days, it took for me to finally experience islands of pure mind, freed from hindrances. 

First, came the cravings for the comfortable life left behind. Wanting more food, less pain during sittings, a room without a mouse roaming at night, and none of the hassles from a scarce water supply. Then came the anger from unaddressed shadowy forces, that made their way into my dreams every night. Anger, recognized, soon left the path wide open for anxiety about ridiculously small, and also more 'legitimate', bigger things . . . All for me to own, since I was alone with no familiar presence to blame for my unhappiness.

This is what the untamed mind does. Spoil otherwise perfectly good moments with self-created afflictions. 

Ruth had a few things to say about hindrances:

We can awaken to that which is hindering us and is imprisoning us from our most inner self. It takes a long time to love ourselves. We can attain peace by burning out the hindrances with wisdom and mindfulness. The observing mind is the fire that burns the impurities. We allow whatever is, we sense it, and then we reflect on it, and hold the hindrances out. Saying not this, not this, as often as necessary. And then returning to the object of our attention.  Realizing the cessation of suffering through observation and investigation of the living process. Gradually, the mind gets purified. 

3 Burnt Cans in Mojave Desert

Ruth also placed great emphasis on taking responsibility for our suffering. We wake up to the fact that we are the creator of our suffering. This is radically different from the usual way, when we attribute our suffering to outer causes. This does not mean that we are uprooting ourselves of all our unwholesomeness, but simply that we are creating the conditions for the uprooting. We are shifting from a place of ignorance and not understanding ourselves, which is where most of humanity lives, to cultivating a different theme. I am the creator of my dukkha, because of my ignorance. There is joy when we realize where it's at, that we cannot throw anything away, including the disturbances. This is the standpoint we need to hold in the midst of resentment or criticizing. Handling body and mind sickness with great compassion, and taking responsibility, not throwing anything away and justifying.

And we chant:

May I abide in well-being
In freedom from hostility
In freedom from ill-will
In freedom from anxiety
And may I in this way 
maintain well-being in myself.

May we abide in well-being
In freedom from hostility
In freedom from ill-will
In freedom from anxiety
And may we in this way 
maintain well-being in ourselves.

Now, whenever I encounter impurities in the mind, ready awareness springs up, and I can feel in a very physical way thoughts, emotions, and attached sensations being burnt out, and slowly replaced by the object of breath. BURNT OUT. Such a powerful image.

The Observer and the Observed

(Back from two and a half week retreat with Ruth Denison, at Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center, I am devoting the next few weeks to sharing Ruth's wonderful teachings.)

A while ago, I lamented the lack of media presence for women Buddhist teachers. As a small step, I took many short videos of Ruth throughout the retreat. Here is the first one in the series, catching Ruth during an impromptu sharing about her experience of awakening:

Very profound, and beautiful . . . 

One evening, I got a glimpse of the oneness alluded to by Ruth. She had asked us to join her for one last sitting, after a joyful dance to the tune of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. A few  minutes in, there was the experience of body dissolving, completely, and leaving only pure energy, boundless. A very powerful moment, that tore apart prior illusions of separateness and solidity. 

Only Seeing

(Back from two and a half week retreat with Ruth Denison, at Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center, I am devoting the next few weeks to sharing Ruth's wonderful teachings.)

How to see form and shape without mind intervening and creating concepts? That is the challenge. The whole process is about consciousness seeing rather than thinking about. The mind is always working. We give it a rest with pure consciousness. We come to awareness so that the seeing experience is not constantly disturbed, and mixed with our thinking about it. This can only be realized in the present experience.

Tibetan Flags - Dhamma Dena Zendo

We practice by focusing on one sense experience, here seeing, and becoming aware when we all of a sudden start thinking. If thoughts come in and are relevant, then we are in atmosphere of reflecting. Then we go back to only seeing. We notice the tensing when the thinking mind gets involved. Always knowing what we are doing. We learn to use our whole equipment as a tool to achieve deeper purity of mind, and wisdom.

Like the Sun

(Back from two and a half week retreat with Ruth Denison, at Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center, I am devoting the next few weeks to sharing Ruth's wonderful teachings.)

Ruth's Teachings on Loving Kindness.

I brought back with me the gift of Ruth's image of loving kindness as the sun that brings its warm rays to everything, regardless.

Sunrise at Dhamma Dena Vipassana Center

Here are my notes from her talks on metta (loving kindness):

Metta is love without distinction. You see that you can have you can have your heart open, even if someone acts in a bad way. You understand this person is behaving in such a way because he or she is suffering, and you extend compassion towards them, who have no precepts to guide them. You always keep a friendly heart, and you don't criticize yourself or others. I see every difficulty as a challenge for my practice to become stronger. You have to go very deep into that which is harmful, so that it becomes of benefit to yourself and others. Loving kindness does not sort out. It is even-minded. That does not mean you always say yes, but you don't blame and go into 'he could have done better'. Our rawness, our anger get transformed that way. 

From the Buddha's Discourse on Loving-Kindness:

"Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life even so let one cultivate a boundless love towards all beings."

Ruth gaves us several metta practices:

One morning she asked us to use our time walking back from the zendo, "to unload that which is hindering your heart", while becoming aware of the sun's warm touch on our bodies.

Another time, during sitting meditation, she asked us to extend love from our center into all four directions, and then placing both hands on the heart, bringing that same love to ourselves.

The biggest love lesson, I got from watching Ruth every day, as she gave selflessly of herself, from early morning to late night. Giving to us, her students,  her teachings. Giving to impromptu visitors,  the gift of her wisdom. Giving to the animals in the desert, the coyotes, the rabbits, the quails, the squirrels, the doves, each their kind of food. Giving to the ones in financial needs,  free tuition, and sometimes even free rent. Giving the plants scarce water, recycled from our daily activities. Giving, giving . . . with joy always.

"This is a radical practice." - Ruth Denison

I left Dhamma Dena with a light heart, ready to give.

Gimme Some Trouble

(While away on women's retreat with Ruth Denison, I decided to lend this blog to some of my favorite  Buddhist women teachers.)

Pema again . . . This is one of my favorite videos, from Pema Chodron:

Tsultrim's Demons

(While away on women's retreat with Ruth Denison, I decided to lend this blog to some of my favorite  Buddhist women teachers.)

Learning to feed our demon(s) with Tsultrim Allione:

Sylvia's Kindness

(While away on women's retreat with Ruth Denison, I decided to lend this blog to some of my favorite  Buddhist women teachers.)

Sylvia Boorstein reminds us to be kind to ourselves:

Khandro's Simple Wisdom

(While away on women's retreat with Ruth Denison, I decided to lend this blog to some of my favorite  Buddhist women teachers.)

I love the practicality of Khandro Rinpoche's teachings:

The Courage of Honesty

(While away on women's retreat with Ruth Denison, I decided to lend this blog to some of my favorite Buddhist women teachers.)

Continuing to explore fear, this time with Pema Chodron:

Do Not Be Afraid

(While away on women's retreat with Ruth Denison, I decided to lend this blog to some of my favorite  Buddhist women teachers.)

Sharon Salzberg explores the edges of fear and fearlessness: