BUDDHISM & BURNT TOAST

What Would the Buddha Do?

This week we look at Buddhism from its U.S. American perspective. Our guide is Helen Tworkov, author of Zen in America and Tricycle magazine serving the multifaceted American Buddhist community.
Tworkov deals more with the sufferings of the everyday, the anxieties of our daily stresses which she says ascend from the "tyranny' of our minds. It is becoming aware of the "tyranny" and learning to gain a new perspective on our mind's capability through meditative processes.
Below are some of her observations about everyday life.

Stress is some fundamental distortion of mind...a way in which something is out of reality.

dukha (Sanskrit) meaning "suffering," living with a tremendous amount of "disatisfactoriness" ...that the mind is creating for itself all day long.

Taking burnt toast personally?

Meditation as the most practiced principle of Buddhism in the West.
Becoming aware of the nature of your mind regarding good versus negative thoughts.

What does Buddhism bring to America?

Learn something for yourself, not from a book, not even the Buddha, but from yourself, your own mind.

Walter Morton for Terra Incognita