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Articles by Oren Jay Sofer
The necessity of joy in times of sorrow
This is an excerpt from “Your Heart Was Made for This: Contemplative Practices for Meeting a World in Crisis with Courage, Integrity, and Love.” I grew up on the East Coast, where forests of evergreen, oak and maple soothed me. I loved spending time in a great old white pine. I’d climb into her arms, as high as her branches would support me. Near her crown, I would wrap one arm around her trunk and look out over the trees.
Oren Jay Sofer On Rest and Contemplative Practice
What is the role of contemplative practice in times of crisis? And how can meditation actually support us in meeting the greatest challenges of our time? Meditation teacher Oren Jay Sofer takes up these questions in his new book, Your Heart Was Made for This: Contemplative Practices for Meeting a World in Crisis with Courage, Integrity, and Love.
Your Heart Was Made for This
“We don’t practice devotion to get something in return. We practice it for its own sake, as a complete offering of our heart. Singing my son to sleep in my arms, lowering him gently into a warm bath, even wiping his bottom — done wholeheartedly these acts express full devotion. Shunryu Suzuki Roshi recounts how Dogen, the founder of the Soto school of Zen Buddhism, made a devotional act of fetching water from the river, taking only half a dipper and returning the rest 'without throwing it away….
Your Heart Was Made for This by Oren Jay Sofer | Review | Spirituality & Practice
There are many books about meditation and the importance of contemplative practices, but few that manage to remain contemplative-centered while drawing timely applications. That’s what Oren Jay Sofer’s book does so well.
Reclaiming Our Attention
From Your Heart Was Made for This: Contemplative Practices for Meeting a World in Crisis with Courage, Integrity, and Love © 2023 by Oren Jay Sofer. Reprinted in arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc. Boulder, CO. www.shambhala.com When I was a kid, I would save the seeds from fruit—lemons, oranges, the occasional avocado. I soaked them in water and checked them until they sprouted. Watching them split open was like magic.
Everyday Devotion
The words devotion and vote both come from the Latin vovere, to vow, promise, or dedicate. To be devoted means that we commit fully. When we are devoted, we give tremendously of our time, energy, and attention—to a spouse, an instrument, a practice, a garden, a quality, or the sacred. This kind of wholehearted offering can include our rational intelligence, but it needn’t depend on it. Yes, devotion without reason can be dangerous, as history tragically demonstrates.
No Wonder Without Humility
To access wonder, find ways to be naturally mindful and curious. Pay complete attention, like a child observing a butterfly for the first time. This requires humility. You must be willing to become fully absorbed in the present, setting aside ideas about what you know and what will come. Intellectual analysis, comparison, and craving corrode wonder.
Why We Need Both Grief and Gratitude
I cry when I read the news periodically. Graphic details of the war in Ukraine, disturbing reports of climate chaos, the racist mass shooting in Buffalo, New York here in the United States all remind me of the ignorance, hate, and violence in our world. It’s a lot to be with. Making space for the truth of our feelings is essential for keeping the heart healthy and finding a wise response in this complex world. The pain is valid. The grief is valid.
Why We Need Both Grief and Gratitude
I cry when I read the news periodically. Graphic details of the war in Ukraine, disturbing reports of climate chaos, the racist mass shooting in Buffalo, New York here in the United States all remind me of the ignorance, hate, and violence in our world. It’s a lot to be with. Making space for the truth of our feelings is essential for keeping the heart healthy and finding a wise response in this complex world. The pain is valid. The grief is valid.
Five Mindfulness Tools For Pain
One Buddhist meditation teacher is fond of asking his students, “Why does your knee hurt when you meditate?” After entertaining a few answers, he smiles impishly and laughs, “Because you have a body.” Human bodies feel pleasure and pain. It’s what they do. Whether it’s a minor ache or chronic pain, unpleasant sensations are an unavoidable, universal, and completely natural part of being alive. Most meditation involves sitting still for extended periods of time — a perfect recipe for pain.
Ask the Teachers: What is the Buddhist view of hope?
Oren Jay Sofer, Sister Clear Grace, and Ayya Yeshe look at the meaning of hope in Buddhism and what it means in today’s world. From left to right: Oren Jay Sofer, Sister Clear Grace, and Ayya Yeshe. Photos by Lauren Rudser, Thay Yasha, and Ayya Yeshe. Question: What is the Buddhist view of hope? Is it just another delusion that pulls us out of the present moment and causes suffering, or can it also motivate us to work in a way that creates a better future?
How to Navigate Difficult Conversations
The difference between ordinary conversations and challenging ones is a bit like the difference between canoeing on open water and running rapids. Both involve paddling with balance, but the stakes are much higher and the skills more demanding in white water. Think of a terrible argument you had with someone or a time when you tangled with a coworker. Intense emotions, personal blind spots, and mistaken assumptions can make high-stakes conversations unproductive and even explosive.
Tricycle: The Buddhist Review
Photograph courtesy the author: The author and his father, Nathan Cooper, at the latter’s 75th birthday celebration in 1996. In the eyes of many, the entirety of Buddhist virtue is found through meditation. This is a much contested viewpoint, but whether or not one is of the opinion that the whole of the dharma is made available through meditation, it certainly does not follow that meditation is the only way the dharma is made available.
Buddha's Communication Toolbox : Right Speech Dharma Talk
Dharma on your desktop (and your phone, too) Actually, it’s dharma wherever you are with our online dharma talks, available when you subscribe. Unlock Tricycle’s treasury of video teachings by over 70 teachers today. Subscribe Now Playing 1 of 4 An Ancient Map: The Buddha's Guidelines for Awakening through Speech Download Transcript It has been edited for clarity.
Book Review: Say What You Mean
Book author: Oren Jay Sofer Reviewed by: Lori Handelman, PhD Last updated: 6 Mar 2019 ~ 4 min read This brilliant book opens with a perfect analogy: “Communicating is a bit like learning an instrument.
Why Can’t I Get to the Cushion?
Photo by David Gabriel Fischer | thezendiary.com Many of us begin a spiritual path with gusto and determination—be it out of necessity, inspiration, or curiosity. We hold steady for weeks, months, or more. Inevitably, something changes, and we lose steam. The meditation practice to which we were once so devoted begins to feel like a chore as life gets busy, and we find we can’t bring ourselves to practice.
When to Speak and When to Listen
magazine Practice, TeachingsMeditation & Practice You have a choice—using it wisely can spell the difference between misunderstanding and meaningful dialogue. By Oren Jay Sofer Spring 2019 Illustration by Franziska Barczyk When it comes to conversation, the force of our habits and the pressure of social settings can make it exceedingly difficult to maintain awareness. Here, mindfulness practice serves as a basis.
5 Core Practices for More Meaningful Conversations
Here are five core practices you can start using today to improve your communication. There is one activity we each do every day, all day long, in every area of our lives—at home, at work, with friends, even when we’re alone. The success of our relationships, our work, and life in general rests heavily on it, yet few of us ever receive explicit training in this area. I’m talking about communication.
Relational Awareness
An excerpt from Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication “All real living is meeting.” — Martin Buber When it comes to conversation, the force of our habits and the pressure of social settings can make it exceedingly difficult to maintain presence. Here, our internal practice serves as a basis.
Creating New, Better Habits Is Like Turning a Ship
Trike Daily Meditation Transforming our habits requires a moment of insight coupled with sustained effort. By Oren Jay Sofer Sep 25, 2018 Photo by Knut Troim | https://tricy.cl/2xNFR7n “Habit is the greatest tyrant,” an elder once told me. By the time we reach adulthood, we’re each carrying decades of habits. We’ve become accustomed to the routines and patterns that we’ve cobbled together to get by.
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