Seated Buddha at White Sands Buddhist Center, Mims, FL

Is the prodigal son emerging into the second half of life? He now realizes that money and wine, women, and song will not make him happy. This is the kind of crisis that either destroys us or launches us into the second half of life in the inner self. The prodigal son realizes that the eight impermanent, worldly concerns: gain, loss, praise, blame, pleasure, pain, fame, and defame (defamatory words) will not give him what he is looking for (Khai Thien, “The Core of Happiness,” White Sands Buddhist Center, Mims, FL  http://cattrang.org/study/corehappiness.pdf). Buddhists says that right mind, non-dualistic mind is essential for living well in the second half of life. Is not this the “mind of Christ” that Paul encourages us to develop? Continue reading →