The Five Pillars are considered the most essential instructions from Muhammad for how to live as a Muslim. Loyal Muslims are expected to follow the Five Pillars as closely as they can. Profess Faith—Shahada​ Shahada—Say with conviction, "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet."...

Review today's workshop with your co-leader. Did participants engage the subject with respect? Did participants bring specific expectations about or established emotional responses to Islam or Muslims? Were they able to process those? Did youth understand and respect basic Islamic beliefs? Which...

One challenge of facilitating a group exploring Islam is to stay grounded in order to guide the group to do the same. Begin by recognizing any preconceived notions you have about Muslims and Islam. Talk with your co-leader in advance of the workshop; share your level of familiarity with Islam and...

Here are some situations where you might have trouble keeping your cool. You drop your cell phone and somebody steps on it, destroying it. Someone hits your compact car with their SUV. You are a clerk in a store and a furious customer brings back a defective product. Two of your friends have a...

A highly revered text from the Mahayana Lojong (mind training) tradition, composed by the Buddhist Master Langri Tangpa (1054–1123). (1) With the determination to accomplish The highest welfare of all sentient* beings, Who excel even a wish-granting jewel, May I at all times hold them dear. (2)...

A man walking across a field encountered a tiger. The man fled, running as fast as he could go, with the tiger chasing fiercely after him. The man came to the edge of the field. It was a cliff! He leaned over the edge of the cliff, grabbed a vine, and swung down against the cliff face. The tiger...

Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, compiled by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki (North Clarendon, VT: Tuttle Publishing, 2008), is a brief, accessible introduction to Zen Buddhism. Zen Classics: Formative Texts in the History of Zen Buddhism by Steven Heine (New York: Oxford University Press USA, 2005) is a...

Review the workshop with your co-leader: How did participants cope with the complexity of this workshop? Did the youth seem to grasp the concepts involved? Did their Western sensibilities get in their way? Did yours? Did the material itself prove useful in dealing with difficulties that arose?...

Lawyer, butcher, trash collector, thief, corporate executive, full-time parent, lobbyist, hair stylist or barber, grocer, graphic artist, hardware store clerk, baker or chef, computer programmer, stockbroker, animal trainer, jeweler, actor, rapper, stunt-car driver, college professor, engineer, c...

Before Beginning the Eightfold Path: Right Association Since we are influenced by our companions, it is very important to have people around us who are supportive of our spiritual goals and on spiritual paths themselves. They do not need to be doing exactly what we are doing, but they have to...

Buddhism is a religion based on rationality, objectivity, personal experience, and practice. It does not say anything about God. In fact, whether a person believes in any divine power at all is immaterial to Buddhism. What does matter? The mind. Delusions of the mind are what Buddhism seeks to...

The name "Buddha" means "enlightened one" or "awakened one." However, the founder of the Buddhist religion was not born enlightened. He was born Siddhartha Gautama, son of King Suddodana and Queen Maya, rulers of Kapilavastu, India, in the foothills of the Himalayas in 566 BCE....

Review the workshop with your co-leader: Did the activities work well? Which were less successful? Could everyone participate? Did everyone participate? A great deal of information was conveyed in this workshop. Did the youth seem to grasp the concepts involved? Were they able to keep pace? Did...

When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless, that it doesn't have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless. You begin to discover how much warmth and gentleness is there, as well as how much space. — Pema Chodron,...

Taoism is a faith practiced by more than 20 million people around the world. The name comes from the word "Tao," which means "the Way." In this case, "the Way" means a way of living in balance and at peace with all that is. Taoism is very old. We know that it existed before 550 BCE and that it...

The inherent worth and dignity of every person Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations A free and responsible search for truth and meaning The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process...

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era, welcomed into his home a university professor who had asked to see him. The professor arrived, answered the master's simple, polite greeting with a brusque, arrogant reply, and strode past him into the house....

Review today's workshop with your co-leader: How did the activities work for participants? Did participants engage the subject with respect? Were the youth engaged by the examination of another religion? Did they seem to grasp the fundamental concepts of Taoism? Was the suggested timing for each...

Prepare the workshop materials well in advance so you are not scrambling on the day of the workshop. Before the workshop, think of an object you can bring to increase the beauty of the workshop space. The object does not have to be large, and no one else needs to know it has been added....

Thirty spokes are joined together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that allows the wheel to function. We mold clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that makes the vessel useful. We fashion wood for a house, but it is the emptiness inside that makes it livable. We work with the...