Week 1 (2/17/26)
Experienced Practitioners Home Practices Week 1 (2/17/26)
What If?
Ganja White
What if our religion was each other?
If our practice was our life?
If prayer was our words?
What if the Temple was the Earth?
If forests were our church?
If holy water—the rivers, lakes and oceans?
What if meditation was our relationships?
If the Teacher was life?
If wisdom was self-knowledge?
If love was the center of our being
Home Practices
The home practice this week is to be clear about your intention to relate to what happens in your daily life with compassion and with wisdom.
Is there an arena of your life that requires attention, or that you specifically wish or need to attend to with greater care? Is there a situation in your life where you’d like to focus on relating to all aspects of it with greater compassion and wisdom? Or is your intention broader, wishing to relate to all beings that you encounter throughout the day with compassion and wisdom? Broader is not better than choosing a specific arena to bring attention to. More specific is not better than a broader approach. Just be as clear as you can.
We are opening our hearts and including all arenas and all beings, which is what is so daring about the teaching of the Buddha. Compassion is the desire to relieve suffering wherever it be found. Wisdom is knowing, questioning, investigating, illuminating.
So please reflect and set an intention. Every morning, review your intention and call it up from time to time throughout the day. Writing it down might be helpful. Please come to class next week prepared to speak about your experience.
Week 2 (2/24/26)
Experienced Practitioners Home Practices Week 2 (2/24/26)
The home practice builds on last week’s (Week # 1) foundation.
Again, this week, be clear about your intention to relate to what happens in your daily life with compassion and with wisdom. It can be helpful to write it down on a piece of paper and put it somewhere where you will see it as you begin your day.
During the day when you come up against an inner or outer sense of density or tension, turn your intention around and ask it as a question: “What would wisdom and compassion look like right now?”
To ask this question is already meditation. To remember to ask this question requires awareness, loving attention, care, patience, the capacity to pause, dedication, non-clinging, letting go, and generosity – so many beautiful meditative qualities are engaged and cultivated simply by remembering.
Week 3 (3/3/26)
Experienced Practitioners Home Practices Week 3 (3/3/26)
Please continue with last week’s home practice and include reactions/responses to the news, applying wisdom and compassion when you hear, read, speak about, or are otherwise in contact with the news. How much contact is enough to inform and how much brings about overwhelm? If you try to avoid knowing what’s happening in the wider world, please be aware of whether this avoidance is wise or unwise. It may be either one so don’t judge, just investigate.