Zen Parenting

Choice: Laying the Foundation for Living Ethically

The Abrahamic faiths as well as Buddhism offer ethical guidelines for how to attain their respective goals – whether it be intimacy with God or Awakening. The Hebrew Bible talks about, among other things, Commandments. But just the word, “Commandment” can be problematic if we have not properly developed our ability to choose from an early age, prior to understanding right from wrong. The 10 Commandments are really an advanced kind of practice, in my view, once an understanding of choice has been well established. If choice has not been well established during youth, in other words if a young person is consistently denied opportunities to make choices, or even consistently given things that they would never choose, then that person will not be prepared to even consider living by the 10 Commandments. I think the same can be said of the Buddhist precepts. The flip side of this is that – considering that the mental factor of choice has not been well developed – then precepts or “commandments” will most likely be followed blindly without the ability to question them.

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Is it ever okay to hit your child?

Is it ever okay to hit your child? If so, what are the reasons that parents do this? If not, what can support a parent in choosing not to use physical punishment on their child?

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Ahimsa

Fear for me is being asked by my wife to take care of our two-year old son, Malcolm, by myself.

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Haiti is a Great Teacher

“Beyond Mountains are more mountains” is a Haitian saying.  This proverb does not only accurately depict the Haitian landscape, but also the inner landscape of

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No Compulsion in Religion

The Quran states, “And had your Lord willed, those on earth would have believed – all of them entirely.  Then, O Muhammad, would you compel

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Duck, Duck Goose!

Recently I had the opportunity to visit my family in Maryland.  This was my first time back to the East coast since the birth of

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Swaddle Yourself

Zen Master Dogen writes that we should practice as though our hair were on fire.  This means we really need to take seriously the impermanence

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