“We will meet at the source of each moment, and we will meet again in different forms of life.” Dear Thay, In deep gratitude for meeting Thay and the Plum Village Sangha. Thay, it has been some time since you passed away. Still, your memory remains more alive than ever. I still remember the morning […]
Author: Teahouse
Snow in the Spring Time
Haiku # 1 Snow falls from the skyThe calendar says it’s SpringThe snow does not care Haiku #2 Planning my gardenPrepping the soil to plant seedsSnow ruins my pans Haiku #3 Winter snow is funI enjoy it every yearSpring snow… not so much Support Our Dharma Work
Christian Zen: Unlikely and Unorthodox, or Universal?
I recently received unfortunate news. A Buddhist-Christian interfaith event organized by the International Centre for Teresian-Sanjuanist Studies (CITeS), The University of Mysticism in Ávila, has been cancelled. The event was supposed to take place in July 2020, before the pandemic forced the conference to be held on July 2021. After the recent surge in cases […]
Women-led Buddha-dharma, from Brazil to Breda
Despite having been excluded from the upper echelons of religious leadership in many traditions, women play a core part in religious communities. Women tend to attend religious rituals more regularly than men, and bring their male relations and spouses to these events. In more traditional societies, women facilitate community cohesion and assist the integration of […]
Soka Gakkai in Latin America: New Frontiers for Women
The worldwide organization of Soka Gakkai is classed as a “new religious movement,” which is characterized by lay leaders and pastors, a vibrant and proactive missionary philosophy, and a core message that is easily replicable and attractive. In Soka Gakkai’s hermeneutic, the Lotus Sutra is the core scripture that contains the essence of the Buddha’s […]
How to Learn from Nature
Living among snakes in the wilderness taught me about the value of mindfulness and how to apply it to different situations in life. Part of living in the wild requires an understanding of how to co-exist peacefully with other beings like snakes. One of the first things that I learned about snakes was their tendencies […]
Why is Nature Peaceful?
On a bright, moon-lit night, while walking back to my kuti in a forest in Thailand, I spotted a huge scorpion that had come out of hiding from under a rock. Out of curiosity, I pointed my flashlight directly at it for a moment, then continued to walk the path back to my resting place […]
Love amidst Dislocation: Metta on the Move
There were children fleeing broken countries with their families long before the current Ukraine crisis. The estimated total of displaced children on the move globally is 50 million: a staggering number, each statistic a fearful child taking extreme risks for the chance of a better life. (American Psychological Association) The ancient Metta Sutta is famous […]
Displaced Dharma: Ukraine’s Crisis of Refugee Children
There are few experiences more distressing and traumatizing than being forced to leave home, and to flee somewhere, anywhere, that may offer physical safety from war. The endless calculations involved are exhausting: whether it is worth putting loved ones in further danger, fears of if the journey can be endured, and the sense of uncertainty […]
Nikkei Dharma: The Story of Jisen Oshiro Roshi
In our last BDE highlights entry, I mentioned the name of Jisen Oshiro Roshi, a priest that has devoted her life to propagating the Dharma in Peru. Born in Argentina Roshi, affectionately known as Aurora, is a nikkei burajiru-jin. Born in Argentina in 1946, Roshi is a pillar of the Peruvian nikkei community as well […]