Creativity and Contemplation explores the intersection of meditation and creative expression. Impulses for creativity originate deep in the soul, psyche, or what Buddhists call “mind.” The arts give voice, shape, feeling, or color to this human journey of living and dying, and are modes of integrating our experiences of reality. Visual art, sound work, spatial exploration, and even cooking, dreaming, and work can be forms of meditation in action if engaged in with awareness.
Sarah C. Beasley (Sera Kunzang Lhamo), Nautilus Gold award-winning author of Kindness for all Creatures: Buddhist Advice for Compassionate Animal Care (Shambhala 2019), has been a Nyingma practitioner since 2000. Sarah is a Certified Teacher, and an experienced writer and artist, with an MA in Educational Leadership and a BA in Studio Art. Sarah spent six years in traditional retreat under the guidance of Lama Tharchin Rinpoche and Thinley Norbu Rinpoche. With a lifelong passion for wilderness, she has summited Mt. Kenya and Mt. Baker, among other peaks. Her book and other works can be seen at www.sarahcbeasley.com.
Sarah C. Beasley discusses how honoring the lives and deaths of animals can be a sacred act and the importance of communal rituals of grief and kindness
BDG correspondent Sarah C. Beasley recounts the joys of learning from and with global leaders in contemplative education
A handful of new books join several classics for teaching children to love and care for the tiniest creatures around us
An introduction to North America’s few Dharma-based educational opportunities for children
Sarah C. Beasley teaches us that rest fosters resilience, self-acceptance, and inclusion—essential for both inner healing and collective liberation.
In times of chaos and uncertainty, Sarah C. Beasley suggests basic guiding principles to keep us moving forward
Recalling teachers who faced imprisonment and exile yet sustained deep meditation practice, Sarah C. Beasley highlights the resilience of the human spirit and the important work of sustaining oneself and others
Reflecting on the Bodhisattva ideal to liberate all beings, Sarah C. Beasley points us toward the ongoing suffering caused by racial bias and some of the ways art can help move us beyond it
Embracing the strength of community, Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings remind us to turn to our deepest practices and support one another, especially our children, as we navigate challenging times.
Sarah C. Beasley offers a meditation on the power of time in nature to remind us of our deep interconnections with the land and all she offers
Gyana Ta Rinpoche, Jigme Pema Osel, is the reincarnation of His Holiness Kyabje Dungse Thinley Norbu Rinpoche (1931–2011)
Sarah C. Beasley uses her work to bring us the beautiful artistic talent of Native American artist Jamie Okuma
