09.27.2024 Ask the Teachers   As we walk the dharma path, questions inevitably arise. Whether we’re struggling with doubts about our personal practice, or pondering how Buddhist teachings relate to our everyday lives, these questions present opportunities for growth and a deeper understanding of the dharma. On the Buddhadharma homepage, you’ll find our dedicated “Ask the Teachers” section with a number of articles featuring three teachers from different Buddhist traditions offering their insights on a range of questions about life and practice. This section provides a unique opportunity to explore the big and small questions that emerge on the spiritual path — not only from the perspective of your own tradition, but also through fresh insights offered by other Buddhist approaches. Whether you’re seeking guidance on meditation, ethics, or daily life challenges, “Ask the Teachers” invites you to broaden your understanding and gain a richer, more holistic view of the dharma from a diverse set of voices. So, whether you are wondering how to work with depression, how to share the dharma with your kids, how to keep your practice fresh, how reincarnation works, or whether there is a soul in Buddhism, “Ask The Teachers” offers answers that will help you develop clarity and a fresh perspective on these topics. By expanding our view and listening to a number of voices, we can gain deeper insight and practical wisdom, enriching our understanding of the dharma. Below are three of my favorite questions answered by different teachers. May they help you to navigate your path with greater wisdom and confidence. —Mariana Restrepo, Deputy Editor, Buddhadharma What does it mean to understand Buddhism through the body?   Roxanne Dault, Meido Moore, and Lopön Charlotte Z. Rotterdam discuss what it means to understand Buddhism through the body — the heart of the Buddhist path. Roxanne Dault: To understand Buddhism through the body is to understand the three characteristics. As we investigate the body and anchor our attention in its presence, seeing the arising and passing of sensations, there is a clear understanding of anicca, the impermanence of all phenomena. In this way, there is a clear knowing of dukkha, the unreliability and unsatisfactoriness of the body. Embodying with presence each moment, we also see the fluid and impersonal nature of the body. This is a direct understanding of anatta, not-self. The body is nature; it’s a living, organic, changing system that cannot bring happiness but is a tool for deepening wisdom. ADVERTISEMENT When we meditate, who or what is meditating? Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, Narayan Helen Liebenson, and Zenkei Blanche Hartman are asked “If meditation is ultimately about mind seeing its own true nature, how are we to understand the mind that meditates?”   Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche: Meditation in this category is self-awareness — awareness of one’s true nature. Self-awareness is awareness with no object, for the self is discovered to be no object. Self is aware of itself — just awakened experience. Who knows this? There is not somebody knowing something, only oneself knowing oneself. Where does this knowing arise? Does it arise outside? Does it arise inside? No, it arises in itself.   The power of nonduality is twofold. First, because it is nondual, without the thinking and grasping mind, there is no ego; there is a complete absence of ego when one abides in the nature of mind. With the absence of ego, there is no distorted self to create defenses and projections. There is no addictive effort. Therefore when one is in that deep state of meditation, one’s body completely relaxes and achieves optimal well-being. How can the dharma help us work through grief?   Breeshia Wade, Tenku Ruff, Damchö Diana Finnegan share how the dharma can help us work through grief. Tenku Ruff: The dharma teaches us how to be present to grief — the same way we are present to our breath as we sit, noticing our thoughts and feelings arising, letting them go, and returning. When we feel ripping sorrow, we stay with it, feeling it deeply, breathing, letting it go. And just as we stay present to the sorrow, we can also stay present to the lack of sorrow. This happens too. Grief can include anger, joy, guilt, depression, tears, loneliness, comfort, or nothing at all. The dharma teaches us that everything that arises falls away. LION’S ROAR PROMOTION