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.
An encounter with the work of Indigenous artist Rose B. Simpson reveals how art, like Buddhist practice, can become a path of investigation
Bhutan’s sacred caves, forests, and monasteries offered a journey beyond words—an immersion into lineage, devotion, and the living Dharma
Meditation, an expansive and accessible human technology, remains our truest guide through life, death, and the coming digital unknown
From Bhutan to Scotland, Dr. Amelia Hall traces the hidden threads linking human and non-human realms, reminding us that care for the planet begins with reverence for all beings
Ruth Asawa’s life and work show the meeting of art, mindfulness, and resilience
Sarah C. Beasley introduces the life and work of innovative artist Ruth Asawa
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
