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The Dark Side of Meditation
Neuroscientist Willoughby Britton and Michael discuss the dark side of meditation.
Buddha Before Buddhism 5: Raft
Notes on a talk by Michael Stone at Centre of Gravity, June 11, 2013 Listening I’m just back from a five-day conference of dharma teachers born after 1960. We come from such different traditions, different identity kits. Our elders built
Buddha Before Buddhism 4: Leaving Home
Centre of Gravity talk, May 28, 2013 Heavy Last week someone made a comment that was cleverly disguised as a question. Can you remember? The question was: why don’t we call the Buddha, Gotama? This is his last name, his
Buddha Before Buddhism 2: Who do you trust?
Notes on a talk by Michael Stone at Centre of Gravity, May 14, 2013 Ourselves The times the Buddha lived in is now called by scholars the Axial Age. One of its primary features is that a new kind of
Buddha Before Buddhism 3: Ancient City
Notes on a talk by Michael Stone at Centre of Gravity, Toronto, May 13, 2013 Strain Religion is an attempt to respond to the strain at the centre of every heart. Every child has a religious feeling. Can you remember?
Buddha Before Buddhism 1: How I Stopped Loving the Ruling Class
Notes on a talk by Michael Stone at Centre of Gravity, Toronto, May 6, 2013 Three Pictures In the next few weeks, I’d like to explore the Buddha’s teachings before they turned into Buddhism. Let’s begin with three pictures. In
Bodhisattva 9: Anger
Transcribed talk by Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara Originally published by The Village Zendo When we begin sitting, we are often immediately relieved that we’ve finally sat down and started to practice. We settle into the quiet and we bliss out
Bodhisattva 8: Anger
Notes on a talk by Michael Stone at Centre of Gravity, February 25, 2013 Celeste Celeste wrote an email that I’d like to excerpt. It goes like this: “I had a question I was hoping you could shed some light
Bodhisattva 1: Vanishing Acts, Altruism, Biological Allies
Notes on a talk by Michael Stone at Centre of Gravity, January 8, 2013 Scholar For the next couple of months we’re going to study a text written by Shantideva who lived in India in the seventh or eighth century.
We Promise to Fix It Back
Meditation practice never works the way you think it will. You think it’s working in one part of your mind only to realize it’s actually rearranging a wholly different part. Fukushima is the same way. I thought I’d go to
Everything is Medicine
Notes on a talk by Michael Stone at Centre of Gravity, December 16, 2012 Guns I would like to dedicate tonight’s talk to the families who have lost their loved ones in the Connecticut shooting. Guns are terrifying. At my
Yoga Sutra 18: Remix by Matthew Remski
Notes on a talk by Matthew Remski at Centre of Gravity, Toronto, December 11, 2012 Intro by Michael Stone Matthew is always someone who goes too far. For instance, he had the idea to start a yoga fest, and it
About the Community Library
Michael was a great archivist and the Community Library was—and continues to be—a labour of love. Everything in the Community Library is available for free. Anyone, anywhere can have instant access to material that will help them deepen their practice and contribute to a culture of compassion and collaboration.
Libraries are places where we gather alone together. They are known to be places of refuge for seekers, as well as those who are marginalized. This library is no different. It helps us nourish our beautiful, international community without walls. Now, it will also help keep Michael’s legacy alive.