We often hear the fight for justice described as a “struggle.” But Dr. Kamilah Majied believes that this struggle can be and has been joyful. In her view, justice is inextricable from joy, and it involves accessing the inner joy that is available to us when we treat ourselves and others as enlightened beings. Dr. Majied is a mental health […]
With its complex tapestry of political intrigue, war, sandworms, desert messianism, and otherworldly spice, Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel Dune continues to be one of science fiction’s most influential works and an enduring pop culture phenomenon. And while the epic franchise might seem like an unlikely place to find the teachings of the Buddha, an undercurrent of Zen flows throughout. At […]
One of the first arts I trained in as part of living at Chozen-ji was ceramics. One weekend morning in 2018, I made my way back to the ceramics studio. There, I found several Dojo members puttering around and happy to show me the basics. It would take months, if not years, to learn to tame a ball of clay […]
The other day, one of my dharma sisters told me a koan: A student asked her teacher: “Are you really present all the time?”The teacher replied: “Yes, I am.” There is a long tradition of Zen students asking their teachers whether they are truly enlightened. In most of the stories I’ve heard, the teacher nimbly evades or deflects the question, […]
Christina Feldman: One of the most important teachings of the Buddha around joyfulness is that joy is not dependent upon having ideal or perfect conditions in our lives. Rather, joyfulness is a quality that is inwardly born and generated, possible in all moments. In the Dhammapada, one of the much loved early texts of the Buddha’s teaching, the Buddha says, […]
Boundless joyfulness really comes down to a practice of seeing the goodness in others. We see this in the practice of lovingkindness and compassion, but with joyfulness, this takes a more active approach, where, in the present moment, or through remembering a past event, we deliberately try to generate joy in another person’s happiness. We might reflect on a moment […]
Joy is an incredibly important aspect of all Buddhist practice. It is one of the four immeasurables, the characteristics of the enlightened mind. Joy is also one of the seven factors of awakening—the qualities of mind that, when cultivated in a balanced way, lead to total enlightenment. Whether we are beginners or more advanced, it is impossible to accomplish any […]
The quality of sympathetic joy or joy in the happiness of others is known as mudita in the Pali language. Sympathetic joy is what happens when we actually feel happy for the happiness of others. Rather than witnessing someone’s success or good fortune and falling sway to the voice that so often arises within us, which says, “Ooh, I wish […]
Joy is an intentional practice. So often our minds are running on autopilot when it comes to happiness, with all-too-familiar story lines. Have you ever thought, “I’ll feel good when I get that new cute fall jacket or finally get this work project done” or “I’ll be happy when I have a certain amount of money in my bank account” […]
Often when someone is getting something we want, or they have something we can’t or don’t have, jealousy pops up for us. Here, the practice of joyfulness is really useful, because instead of creating jealousy, and covetousness, where we wish we had the thing, or relationship, or job they had, whatever it is, we can deliberately generate joyfulness. We can […]
