Category Archives: Buddhism

The Impossibility of Universalism

Posted on September 27, 2020 by KGJ

Reverend Karen G. Johnston The Unitarian Society East Brunswick, NJ September 27, 2020 While Buddhism asserts that we all have Buddhanature – that at our core can be found a golden goodness – the roots of Unitarianism or Universalism does … Continue reading →

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Growing Equanimity: Via Rumi’s Guest House (sermon)

Posted on February 2, 2020 by KGJ

Do you know that old, and perhaps tired, and perhaps true, cartoon about Unitarian Universalists? There are two doors.  Each has a sign over it.  The first door says, “Heaven.”  No one is going through that door. The second door … Continue reading →

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Befriending Death: An Excursion (sermon)

Posted on March 26, 2017 by KGJ

The Unitarian Society, East Brunswick, NJ Our reading can be found here. Dylan Thomas’ most famous lines are these: Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against … Continue reading →

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In the Thrall of Fallen Angels: Implicit Bias and A Hard Path Through (sermon)

Posted on December 4, 2016 by KGJ

The Unitarian Society East Brunswick NJ December 4, 2016   I am a story. So are you. So is everyone. So say the opening words from our Time For All Ages story this morning. I am, in fact, like you … Continue reading →

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Prayer for the 15th Anniversary of September 11

Posted on September 11, 2016 by KGJ

Our human story began long before this Shattering of glass, metal, and human lives known by its date: September 11, 2001. We do a deep disservice to those lost and those forever transformed by what they took into their bodies … Continue reading →

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Weeping & Walking & Welcoming My Inner Turtle

Posted on June 15, 2016 by KGJ

At dusk, an unscheduled detour and stop at the Peace Pagoda in Leverett, a place of calm for a very long time in my life. It is up a steep trail in a clearing in the woods on a hillside. … Continue reading →

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The Hope Question (Part I)

Posted on April 3, 2016 by KGJ

In the room full of mental health practitioners getting a classical primer on mindfulness and Buddhism from Andrew Olendzki, the final question of the day was what I call Given that my livelihood is ministry, I encounter this question from … Continue reading →

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Missing Mudita: On Collegiality and Sympathetic Joy

Posted on October 21, 2015 by KGJ

I was looking for the missing brahmavihara. Walking around the beautiful grounds of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, Massachusetts, where I was spending three days in a self-directed silent retreat, I happened upon the many outdoor benches offered. … Continue reading →

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On Keeping (Ig)Noble Silence

Posted on September 12, 2015 by KGJ

At the meditation center – the Mothership I like to call it – Noble Silence is observed, even if one goes on Self Retreat, which is what I just did for three days: time on my own at the center … Continue reading →

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Tonglen: Enough. For Now.

Posted on September 8, 2015 by KGJ

I met Doris* as she lay in a bed on the pulmonary unit to which I had been assigned as a hospital chaplain intern. At the moment when we met, she her breathing was “good enough” – not well enough … Continue reading →

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