The comedienne Lily Tomlin, in her persona as the bag lady, once said, “I tried reality once, and found it highly overrated.” From a Buddhist standpoint, the same could be said for thinking. The various schools of Buddhism all have a highly technical literature, whose collected works fill a good-sized room. That being said, the [...]
Archive for the ‘Aging and Buddhism’ Category
Thinking Is Overrated
Posted in Aging and Buddhism, Aging and Meditation, tagged aging and karma, Thought of Enlightenment, training the mind on January 10, 2010 | 12 Comments »
Lonely But Never Alone
Posted in Aging and Buddhism, Aging and Meditation, Loneliness, tagged grief, Loneliness, loss on July 29, 2009 | 21 Comments »
Loneliness often increases as we grow older. Certainly when those we know begin to pass away (which may start when we are in our 50s) there is a kind of loneliness that comes and cannot easily be assuaged. Their loss is permanent.
I have a thumbnail summary of Buddhism that I have mentioned here before and [...]
Mindfulness of Aging Part 3
Posted in Aging and Buddhism, Aging and Meditation, Aging and Spirituality, Baby Boomers and Aging, tagged Aging and Buddhism, Aging and Meditation, Aging and Spirituality, mindfulness, Mindfulness of Aging on June 20, 2009 | 15 Comments »
I often say, paraphrasing my own teacher, that the purpose of Buddhist meditation is not to be calm, but to be real. Being real doesn’t exclude being calm, if that is what is happening. But being real is not some particular state of mind; it is the mind in accord with the actuality of things—“real [...]
Mindfulness of Aging Part 2
Posted in Aging and Buddhism, Aging and Meditation, Aging and Spirituality, tagged Aging and Meditation, Aging and Spirituality, aging and zen on June 10, 2009 | 20 Comments »
So what do we do with our aging thoughts? How can we transform them from exercises in comparison and regret into more wholesome insights that nourish us? (If you are tuning in to this blog for the first time, read the last post, “Mindfulness of Aging part I”.)
There are three parts to transforming mindfulness: clarity, [...]
Mindfulness of Aging Part I
Posted in Aging and Buddhism, Aging and Meditation, Aging and Spirituality, tagged Aging and Buddhism, Aging and Meditation, Aging and Spirituality, Mindfulness of Aging, training the mind on May 28, 2009 | 14 Comments »
In this post I’d like to explore the practice of “Mindfulness of Aging.” Mindfulness is one of the basic practices in Buddhism, but the precise reasons why it is effective (particularly in chronic pain management) are not yet well understood. Mindfulness is sometimes characterized in Buddhist texts as “bare noting,” and is often coupled with [...]
Aging and the Thought of Enlightenment
Posted in Aging and Buddhism, Aging and Meditation, tagged aging and zen, Bodhicitta, suzuki roshi, Thought of Enlightenment on March 26, 2009 | 4 Comments »
The “thought of enlightenment,” or bodhicitta, is a key doctrine of Great Vehicle Buddhism.
Basically it refers that moment in your life when your perspective widens to embrace the big picture, and to ask the big questions. Why am I here? Why is anything here? What is life all about? Why is there evil [...]
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Lewis Richmond
Author and Buddhist teacherLewis leads a Zen meditation group, Vimala Sangha, and teaches at workshops and retreats throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
He has published three books, including the national bestseller Work as a Spiritual Practice.
This website is dedicated to his teachings on aging as a spiritual path.
Lewis also leads a discussion on aging as a spiritual practice at Tricycle magazine's online community site.
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