In my last two posts, I wrote about our hungry spirit and how this clinging energy of ours both serves us well and causes us endless suffering. Here I share a Buddhist paradigm that breaks down this hungry spirit into five aspects of knowing and relating to the world. In...

Bodhisattva is a term Buddhists use to describe someone who is on the path to enlightenment but postpones the ultimate goal for the sake of helping others arrive there first. Bodhi generally means awakened, and Sattva most often means being, essence or spirit. I have also known Sattva to mean...

There is a famous Buddhist saying: "It is not the appearance that binds you, it's the attachment to the appearance that binds you." What does that really mean, and how might it apply to you and me?

If you and I are anything alike, then I know there is...

A few years ago I arranged for students to do volunteer clean-up work for a local land trust. We spent the day cleaning up garbage that had been dumped on recently acquired property near family homes in a poor rural community. The day was wet but we had fun helping...

What do you do if your company blows up a village in India, sells an arthritis drug that leads to heart attacks, or causes the largest oil spill in world history? As a shareholder you have to worry about your investment, and as a manager, it's also your responsibility. What...

In an editorial in the New York Times last week David Brooks argued that most of us pay attention to the wrong things when it comes to happiness and success. We want to believe that success and material gain bring happiness, but that works only up to a certain point....

David Letterman, Senator Stanford, John Edwards, Tiger Woods - every month it seems another celebrity is in the news for crossing the line and straying. Are they an exception, or is finding the right romantic partner simply that much of a confounding thing?

See if this sounds right in today's...

For the moment, let's just forget about the disappointment of any substantive health care reform. Remember instead that we also have critical job creation, financial reform, and national energy, environmental, and educational issues stalled in a Congressional queue that gets longer by the month. Gone are the days of bi-partisanship...

In the news recently, there has been much said about the importance of creating jobs. While unemployment is ravaging every part of the workforce, perhaps hardest hit are fresh college graduates who can't get started. For these young people the damage can be deep and long-lasting and create what Peter...

In the media this last week and featured in the New York Times editorial page yesterday is a new study on happiness by Andrew Oswald of Warwick University in England and Stephen Wu of Hamilton College in NY. It explores quality of life data like weather, crime, traffic, and living...

Dear Mr. President,

Not since FDR has a president faced such a bedeviling array of issues. Already you have some notable accomplishments in withdrawing from Iraq, avoiding an economic collapse, and improving our image abroad. These are no small successes, and through them you have shown your sharp intellect, openness,...

As a student and mentor of leadership for many years, one of my driving ambitions has always been to find what stirs people not only to succeed--but also to make a positive contribution to the world. How can we inspire leaders "to do well while doing good," in ways that...