Once upon a time there was a child whose heart and mind were as pure as snow. But she came under the power of a wicked queen whom we shall call Māra, ruler of illusion, greed, and hatred. To free herself from Māra's huntsman, the child sets out on a journey through the dark forest. The journey leads to discovery and, despite Māra's attempts to poison her, to awakening and true happiness. There are many stories that come to us from Asia, called Jātaka tales, about the Buddha's lives as a … [Read more...]
The Wings of the Bodhisattva
These words are extracted from a course offered by Joanna at BCBS in October, 2000. In every tradition, the spiritual journey seems to be presented in two ways. One is like a journey out of this messy, broken, imperfect world of suffering, into a sacred realm of eternal light. At the same time, within the same tradition, the spiritual journey is also experienced and expressed as going right into the heart of the world—into this world of suffering and brokenness and imperfection—to discover … [Read more...]