This month (Feb 2005) we talk to Kathleen Dowling Singh, author of the acclaimed book The Grace in Dying, who attends Kancha Center in Sarasota.

Kathleen is a transpersonal psychologist in private practice. She also teaches regularly at Kancha Center, writes about spirituality and about death and dying, and is studying on the Teacher Training Program. She has four children and seven grandchildren.

When were you first attracted to Buddhism?

A long time ago. My area in psychology is transpersonal psych, studying what happens as we begin to grow spiritually. So I've been contemplating spiritual growth and meditating for about thirty years. It's pretty hard to be on a spiritual path in America and not recognize that, consistently, the highest clarity and the greatest compassion come from Buddhist insight.

What made you choose to come to this Buddhist Center?

A large part of my move to Sarasota was to be close to this little building I spotted with the Buddhist Center sign. It was a wonderful surprise to discover that Kancha Buddhist Center is the exact lineage of Buddhist teachings that I had hoped to find.

Were you apprehensive about coming? What did you expect?

There wasn't apprehension, just a great deal of anticipation. I expected to find a group of very dedicated practitioners.

What were your first impressions when you arrived?

It felt great - like coming home, like being with my own people. I had just spent ten kind of lonely years in Florida meditating by myself and it felt wonderful to be in a Sangha. Still does.

What do you like best about coming here?

I love walking into the meditation room and feeling the accumulated energy of so much deep and earnest practice. It instantly puts me in a more subtle and more centered place. I have enormous admiration for all that happens in that room.

How would you explain the benefits of meditation to someone new?

Joseph Goldstein said it really well when he said: "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf."

How has what you have learned here made a difference in your everyday work and home life?

I'm surfing better every day. I feel bigger, deeper, calmer, happier, clearer. The biggest difference is that my heart is much more open and my mind is much more peaceful.

What do you feel that Buddhism can offer to the world today?

The practices to develop peaceful minds.

What is your favorite Kadampa Buddhist quotation?

This is pretty corny, but throughout the day I find myself saying inside, "Drip, drip, drip." The "drip" comes from the Condensed Perfection of Wisdom Sutra, where Buddha Shakyamuni says: "Continuous drops of water falling into a pot will make it full. First there is one drop, then two, three, four...until the pot is overflowing." This gives me a deep faith that, as we practice our tradition, we are really moving closer and closer each moment to our aspiration.

With which historical Kadampa Buddhist practitioner do you most identify, and why?

Je Tsongkhapa (AD 1357-1419). I am blown away at the notion that an entire country, century after century, put its resources into spiritual growth. I have so much respect and awe and gratitude for his teachings, once isolated in Tibet, and now freely shared with us in the West.

What aspect of the Bodhisattva's way of life most inspires you?

The naturalness of it, the delusion-free reality of it, the effortless flowing of compassion and wisdom. It's the most noble idea I can imagine.

What's the first thing you're going to do when you become a Buddha?

I want to become a Medicine Buddhia and imagine my focus will be at the two edges of life for a human being. I will come to parents and fill them with an unshakeable awareness that this baby of theirs is a spiritual being. With great joy, I will appear in a form loved by each dying person and fill him or her with peace and clarity and the felt longing for liberation.