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8 EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

I see this as a simplification.
Rather than pursuing my career Seven Buddhist
on the one hand, my personal
interests on another, my
relationships on a third, and so strategies for
forth, I had a single orientation
Dharma. Everything else had to coping with stress
of learning and practicing the

fit into that.
By Bodhipaksa
This simplification opened
entirely new possibilities in Bodhipaksa is a Buddhist teacher and
my life. I met my teacher and author who has been practicing within
became involved in a local the Triratna Buddhist Community since
Dharma center. I made new 1982. He’s originally from Scotland and
friends and discovered the joy formerly ran a retreat center in the
of long retreats. Much happiness Scottish Highlands. In 2000 he created
comes from committing to
the online meditation center Wildmind
one’s deepest values – not just
(www.wildmind.org) in order to make
talking about it or making token
meditation instruction more widely
gestures, but really doing it.
available. He holds an interdisciplinary
Master’s degree in Buddhism and business from the University of
After years of dedicated practice,
Montana. He lives and teaches in New Hampshire.
I gained the ability to help
others connect with their own
spiritual calling, and my teacher
We all know that mindfulness and meditation are increasingly taught as
asked me to begin teaching the
ways of coping with stressful situations. But what about other forms of
Dharma. By creating space in my
Buddhist practice? A research study led by Dr. Russ Phillips, a Buddhist
life for the Dharma, the Dharma
and professor of psychology at Missouri Western State University,
created a path toward greater
identified 14 Buddhist coping strategies by asking Buddhist practitioners
joy and happiness and also
what coping mechanisms they used and by examining the outcomes.
toward helping others.
The use of religion to cope with stress — known as religious or spiritual
To be clear, everyone’s path is
coping — has been studied across many different faith traditions,
unique. What works in your
but rarely within Buddhism. Much research has been conducted on
life may be quite different than
meditation and mindfulness, two common Buddhist practices, but
what I described. But the key
rarely has this research examined such practices in a Buddhist context.
is to create that space through
Additionally, meditation and mindfulness are not the only coping
simplification and orientation
mechanisms used by Buddhists, and yet no scale of religious coping in
around the Dharma. The rest
flows from there. EH Buddhists exists to complement the measures created for other religions.
To produce the questionnaire. Dr. Phillips’ team initially interviewed 24
Buddhists of varying backgrounds across the United States about how
Buddhism was involved in the ways they dealt with stress. They then
used a scientific process called “thematic analysis” to determine common