November 2017
Email from a monk: "Just read how about this article titled, 'Men and women's brains react differently when responding to helping others.' It hadn't occurred to me before that 'in both genders, dopamine encodes values.' Yet 'the mind' described by the Buddha,…
Read →October 2017
If ever one doubts the power of generosity, Banyan Grove will beg to differ. We just held a glorious opening ceremony, with kindred spirits and this freshly minted song: This House Called Banyan Grove
Read →October 2017
Replika is a chatbot that creates a digital representation of you. It's strange and fascinating -- but the story behind it is even better. Eugenia Kuyda’s best friend died in 2015. Using a chatbot structure she developed, she entered their messaging history into a Google-built neural…
Read →September 2017
We had an epic Karma Kitchen in Poland . Rev. Heng Sure put on the apron to replace "bus boys" with "bus monks". #Humbling Before Karma Kitchen Poland, all volunteers tied a sacred thread (rakhi) to each other, with prayerful blessings -- as a…
Read →September 2017
I landed in Poland without my bags, but had the serendipity of meeting a respected Tibetan Lama at the airport itself. By the time I reached at the destination, an Indian meal, new clothes (even under clothes), tooth brush, shaving cream, everything was ready. And we followed up with a…
Read →September 2017
It was a great joy to share space with Jaime Bristow, at Mita's Awakin London circle today. He always has great research like how on how 74% are moved by intrinsic motivations but 77% believe others aren't; and how we radically underestimate the happiness of others.…
Read →August 2017
In the process of making my labor of love film, I faced a crossroads. I admired a certain artist's work, but he wanted to be paid for it. Other artists were moved by the spirit of the project, but their quality was average (not great). I want to engage volunteers but I also want the best…
Read →June 2017
Ani and Awakin London community hosted a full day retreat yesterday in London. More than 100 folks(!) had signed-up for a spot in the Devlia's open-hearted living room. About 25 of the participants themselves had contributed to making the evening possible. Seven…
Read →June 2017
How do you get the government to make society more mindful? That's the question that Jamie's been holding for many years now. We had dinner tonight, and it was beautiful to learn more about his journey from advertising to the biggest online platforms for mindfulness (HeadSpace)…
Read →June 2017
Whenever I have a couple hours, I find an excuse to do a circle. :) This afternoon, it was a Fifth Monk Circle -- which created a really rich field of inquiry with about 25 of us. Here's the invite: We're calling it the Fifth Monk Circle, based on this parable that invites…
Read →