Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly Magazine - Winter 2014

In this issue

Cover Story: Confronting Abuse of Power
Our Teachers Are Not Gods: Longtime practitioner and psychotherapist Rob Preece says we may be devoted to our teachers, but we can’t afford to idealize them anymore.
forum | Confronting Abuse of Power Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat, Hozan Alan Senauke, Lama Palden Drolma, and David Whitehorn look at the harm caused by abuse of power in Buddhist communities and how it can and is being addressed. Introduction by Pamela Rubin.
Be Proactive An Olive Branch presents a step-by-step action plan for sanghas to follow both before misconduct arises and after it has been alleged.
Plus:
Who’s Pulling the Strings? Karma doesn’t explain everything—in fact, says Ajahn Amaro, it’s only one of the many forces at work in your life.
The Eight Kinds of Mastery: To understand the true nature of reality, you must go beyond conventional ways of seeing and experiencing the world. Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso discusses eight ways to perfect your meditation, conduct, and view. 
How Deep Is Your Love? It isn’t easy to offer spiritual comfort to a dying person, particularly when you can’t stop thinking about yourself. As Shozan Jack Haubner learned, sometimes you just have to fake it.
The Place Where Your Heart Is Kept: Mitsu Suzuki, widow of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, celebrated her hundredth birthday this year. Norman Fischer tells the story of how this Japanese schoolteacher made a home for herself in American Zen.
Are You Just Coasting? If your practice has become a comfortable routine, you may be using it to prop up your life. Jim Willems has made that mistake. He reminds us not to lose sight of the ultimate goal of meditation.