Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly

uddhadharma offers in-depth teachings that reflect the wealth and range of Buddhist traditions, expert book reviews, and first-rate reporting on stories of special interest to Buddhists. It’s a precious resource for readers who want to deepen their understanding of Buddhist practice and philosophy.

Big Love • THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF LAMA YESHE

Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly

EDITORS’ NOTES • Join Us for Buddhadharma’s Next Step

ROD MEADE SPERRY & MARIANA RESTREPO

Ethics, Meditation, and Wisdom • Zen teacher ZOKETSU NORMAN FISCHER on how sila, samadhi, and prajna work together to give us stability on the Buddhist path to liberation.

How Right Action and Loving-Kindness Work Together • Nikki Mirghafori on why the cultivation of good will can lead to wise action—and vice versa.

Understanding the Vinaya • AMY PARIS LANGENBERG on the history, evolution, and modern manifestations of the training rules followed by Buddhist monastics.

How Ethical Conduct Leads Buddhists to Wisdom • How might our minds find peace, and even liberation? It starts, said the Buddha, with what we do (and don’t do). BRADLEY DONALDSON explains.

How Right Action and Right Livelihood Work Together • Thai Forest Tradition teacher Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo (1907–1961) defines right action—how it manifests, within and without us, and informs our aspiration to engage in right livelihood. Introduced and translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

Dukkha as a Doorway to Liberation • SCOTT TUSA on how Buddhist ethics transcend mere morality and help us to realize awakening.

Is Our Practice Enough? • CLAIR BROWN on how Buddhists’ vow to end suffering must go beyond the individual to a global understanding of how our suffering—and happiness—is connected to all living beings on our planet.

Moving Through the Three “Karma Doors” • Zen teacher Vanessa Zuisei Goddard on how understanding our gateways to the world—body, speech, and mind—is key in our practice of sila.

All-Encompassing Compassion • HEIDI NEVIN remembers her teacher Chatral Rinpoche’s inspiring commitment to vegetarianism as part of the dharma path.

Discernment Guided by Compassion • RYUEI MICHAEL MCCORMICK on right speech: When should we use forceful words, or gentle ones? Or none at all?

What Is Harmful? What Is Helpful? • Chan teacher Guo Gu on how, through practice, we awaken to the best in others and ourselves.

Opening to the Joy of Work • Making a living while living our values can be easier said than done, but Maia Duerr has discerned six keys for cultivating the qualities and conditions for doing abundant, cheerful, sustainable work.

Concentrating on the Work at Hand • In this excerpt from The Gift of Work (originally published as Skillful Means), the prolific Nyingma teacher Tarthang Tulku shares a plain-language exercise for concentration, as developed over his five decades interacting with Americans from various business backgrounds.

How to Work Together for Real Change • Ethics was deeply important to the late Vietnamese Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. (In fact, “An Ancient Path for Modern Times: Applied Ethics” is the theme of his Plum Village community’s retreat for experienced practitioners this year.) Here he explains how we can awaken together through our work—and why we must.

How the Three Tenets Help Us Live Wisely • ROSHI JOAN HALIFAX reflects on the guiding principles of the Zen Peacemaker Order, and why we all might benefit from putting them to the test.

Living Buddhist Ethics: Questions for Reflection • Contributors from this issue share questions we might ask ourselves to gauge how we’re doing when it comes to putting Buddhist ethics into practice.

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