Life is up and down. This is the nature of samsara. It is never fully satisfying, even when things are going “well.” This is excellent to remember. It helps us reduce our attachment to the […]
Not taking ourselves too seriously makes life easier. Both quantum physics and Buddhist philosophy come to the conclusion that appearances are false. Things appear objective and independent. This is mistaken. Our ego appears independent. That […]
Those of us trying to improve our compassion focus on the 6 perfections to open the heart and reduce attachment to the ego and its possessions. These start with the easiest, generosity. But not so […]
Love, love, love is not complete without loving yourself. Some of us are poor at loving others and poor at loving ourself. Others can love others but not ourself. Still others can love ourself but […]
Now that we are working at letting go of our deflated ego, let’s go further and let go of our attachment to our ego altogether. In our everyday life we experience emotions and attitudes that […]
The more we love ourself without arrogance, and the more we love others without attachment, the happier we are and the happier others are. So, what’s holding us back? Kleshas (negative harmful emotions) hold us […]
The strength of our emotional patterns can be overwhelming. Given the right circumstances, that are not always obvious, the same patterns of anger, jealousy, pride, and attachment recur. They seem to come out of the […]
Gain and loss is the third pair of the 8 worldly concerns from which we loosen our attachment. Gain and loss are relative. Nothing is black and white. Say we win the lottery. We become […]
For those interested in understanding the teachings of the Buddha, to eliminate suffering for oneself and others, this schema presented in the last post is crucial to understand. The root of the problem is a […]
Everyone wants a happy life without difficulties or suffering. We create many of the problems we face. No one intentionally creates problems, but we tend to be slaves to powerful emotions like anger, hatred and […]
Human Values Institute