Why do we tell stories? Throughout history, the storyteller was the sage, the wise one. Stories have a mythic, primeval place in human society and culture. They are expressions of our deepest intuitions, our oldest folk memories, and our sense of ultimate destiny. At a social level, they speak to our times and advise us […]
Author: Teahouse
Listen to the Wild
be wounded with her be empty and homelesswith herbe a light among her trees the turquoise darknessat 3:20 amencounter her be exquisite with herponder her like the longpour of a Guinness at an Irish pub on a slow nighttake a measure of hercrystal beauty her stained-glass beauty awake in her stomachheal with herbend with her have faith in her next breath dare to land with […]
The Lotus Greeting: The New Normal
In this new series with Bro. Ananda Kumaraseri, we’ll explore the Buddhist teachings in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Bro. Kumaraseri will focus on how we can reorient our thinking to one of authentic Buddhist liberation, so that we are no longer constrained by old assumptions and biases that are hurting our chances […]
The Day I Was Born
I imagined you wielding a steel blade with my initials worn deep into the spineopening my mind as a lotus petal floats in emptiness, radiating particlesof crazy wisdom in every direction but one. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat Review, Moria Poetry Journal, Chronogram Journal, Ampersand Literary Review, The Angle at St. John Fisher College, and 3:16 Journal. George’s blogs, essays and letters have […]
Yumka Dechen Gyalmo
Dechen Gyalmo (“The Queen of Great Bliss”) is a dakini and an emanation of the supreme Vajrayana goddess Vajrayogini (Tib. Dorje Naljorma). She is called Yumka (“Mother”) because of her role as a mother of all Buddhas and an incarnation of the Mahayana goddess Prajnaparamita. Yumka Dechen Gyalmo originated from the Longchen Nyingthig Cycle, discovered by […]
Spreading Ashes in the Ausable
more coveted than winefrom milk, the masteralchemists of China coulddo no better than these cloudschurning into rivers, the way cottongrass renews itself or how a son returns in time to let go. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat Review, Moria Poetry Journal, Chronogram Journal, Ampersand Literary Review, The Angle at St. John Fisher College, and 3:16 Journal. George’s blogs, essays […]
Mindful Driving: The Antidote to Falling Down
It took until I moved to Los Angeles for me to fully understand what motivates’ William Foster’s rampage in the 1993 action thriller movie Falling Down. True, Michael Douglas’ character has just been fired, and he is also recently divorced − it is undeniable that these factors have a part to play in the bloodbath […]
Mindfulness Is Not
1. A religion 2. An answer 3. A way to feel successful 4. A way to improve yourself 5. A cult 6. A scientific explanation 7. How the brain should work 8. A way of life for the enlightened 9. Ancient 10. New 11. Good for you Mindfulness is a deliberate choice, each moment, to observe […]
Down by the Pond
When I was 10, I had a gift. I knewwhat chirping silence meant to frogs. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat Review, Moria Poetry Journal, Chronogram Journal, Ampersand Literary Review, The Angle at St. John Fisher College, and 3:16 Journal. George’s blogs, essays and letters have appeared in USA Today, The Wall Street […]
Rise
where there is no religion but God and moon and landand sea and the gathering of otherswho are ready for you to believe. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat Review, Moria Poetry Journal, Chronogram Journal, Ampersand Literary Review, The Angle at St. John Fisher College, and 3:16 Journal. George’s blogs, essays […]