by Tara Brach(originally published in Modern Maturity Magazine) There’s an old joke about the Jewish mother who sends her son a telegram that reads, “Start worrying. Details to follow.” That’s exactly how most of us live. We go through our days, a bundle of tense...
NOTE: See updated explanation and more RAIN resources here. Adapted from Tara’s book: True Refuge: Finding Peace & Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart (Bantam, 2013)Also available in .pdf (22KB) About twelve years ago, a number of Buddhist teachers began...
by Tara Brach Some years ago, in the middle of a weeklong vipassana retreat, I found myself swamped in negativity. I reacted with aversion to every facet of life around me. The teachers were talking too much; the cold, cloudy weather was disappointing; my fellow...
by Tara Brach In moments of desperation, no matter what we believe, we all tend to reach out in prayer to something or someone for help. We might call out for relief from a migraine, beg to be selected for a job, pray for the wisdom to guide our child through a...
by Tara Brach(Originally published in Tricycle Magazine – summer 2004) I looked around the hall at all the other meditators, sitting so quietly, with such dignity. Suffering arises from getting caught up in stories and illusions, I reminded myself, hoping that somehow...
by Tara Brach (This article originally was published in Awakening Mind, June, 2003) We’ve all been hurt, disappointed, betrayed, maybe even abused. Sometimes the perpetrator is someone we love; at other times it may be an institution such as our employer or our...
by Tara Brach (This article originally was published in Awakening Mind, December, 2003) My friend was late for our lunch date and I had nothing to do. My cell phone wasn’t charged and I’d forgotten to bring a book. Perusing the menu only lasted for so long. Surrounded...
by Tara Brach When I was in college, I went off to the mountains for a weekend of hiking with an older, wiser friend of twenty-two. After we set up our tent, we sat by a stream, watching the water swirl around rocks and talking about our lives. At one point she...
by Tara Brach (This article originally was published in Awakening Mind) There is one thing that, when cultivated and regularly practiced, leads to deep spiritual intention, to peace, to mindfulness and clear comprehension, to vision and knowledge, to a happy life here...
by Tara Brach – July, 2014 During high school, I consciously struggled with not liking myself, yet it was during college that I became distressed by the intensity of my self-aversion. On a weekend outing, a roommate described her inner process as “becoming her own...
by Tara Brach(The following article originally appeared in the Spring 2001 issue of Inquiring Mind (vol. 17, number 2). www.inquiringmind.com It’s here in all the pieces of my shameThat now I find myself again.I yearn to belong to something, to be containedIn an...
