Uttara: Fire
As dawn was breaking,
wisdom rose in the east—
and set fire to the long dark night.
Therigatha: Fall on your knees and weep
If you really want to cry for somebody,
why not cry for yourself?
Why not cry for all of us,
who are just passing through?
Ruth King: A Journey From Rage to Mindfulness
An approach to examining systems, navigating emotional distress, and increasing social harmony.
Doug Anderson: Not a Buddhist Buddhist
I’ve been doing a Buddhist practice now for some years. I’m not a Buddhist. I’m not “enlightened” nor do I see myself as superior to anyone else. I would never … Continue reading
Bhikshuni Vimala: At the Foot of the Tree
My mother taught me how to sell my youth for money and some sense of power, just as her mother had taught her. At our front door, I answered the … Continue reading
Deborah Bogen: Bashō
Sweet friend, hear me. There will always be trouble.
What did you bring to the world?
You don’t have many days to stay, traveler.
Buddha Shakyamuni: Well-Spoken
A statement endowed with five factors is well-spoken, not ill-spoken; it is blameless and not faulted by knowledgeable people. Which five?
Peter Schireson: Good Morning
Across the street, Ginkgo
sway in the breeze
like a gospel choir.
Video: Joanna Macy — Embracing Pain
. Joanna Macy, Ph.D., is a scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology. In her workshops she counsels the embracing of pain as a way of deepening our … Continue reading
Pema Chödrön: The Wisdom of No Escape
There is a story of a woman running away from tigers. She runs and runs and the tigers are getting closer and closer. When she comes to the edge of … Continue reading
Sam Hamill: Poetry, Politics, and Zen
If only we could touch the things of this world at their center, if we could only hear tiny leaves of birch struggling toward April, then we would know. — … Continue reading
Tashi Nyima: Wasted Lives
There is a very instructive story of a great philosopher who boarded a small boat to cross a river. The philosopher asked the boatman: “Do you know the doctrine of … Continue reading
Sam Hamill: True Peace
Half broken on that smoky night, hunched over sake in a serviceman’s dive somewhere in Naha, Okinawa, nearly fifty years ago, I read of the Saigon Buddhist monks who stopped … Continue reading
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