Although I’ve visited India several times, I’ve never been to Dharamshala before. This cramped but beautiful city, which shot to international fame as a community for Tibetans, is home to a cozy new café called Café129. This beautiful establishment is under the stewardship of journalist-turned-restaurateur Yeonsuk Ka, who in the short span of less than […]
Author: Teahouse
Andromeda / Peace in Me
The number of stars contained in the Andromeda Galaxy is estimated at one trillion.The expense of spirit in a waste of shame / Is lust in action.The galaxy is inclined an estimated 77° relative to Earth.All this the world well knows / To shun the heaven that leads [wo]men to this hell.The rotational velocity has […]
Vasudhara: Goddess of Abundance
Six Armed Vasudhara. From rywiki.tsadra.org Vasudhara (Tib. Norgyunma) is a goddess of wealth, fertility, and well-being. She blesses her worshipers with both material prosperity and spiritual wealth. Like most of the Mahayana goddesses, her heart is filled with compassion and loving-kindness toward all beings. She is the embodiment of the boundless generosity (dana), the first […]
Spiritual Melodies: Tully MacKay-Tisbert
The landscape of America is dotted with Christian influences, from the lamentations of oppression and hope of liberation that fused with African influences to form the melancholy blues, to the Christian rock that arose in the 1960s to become a formidable force of conversion in mega-churches. It is extraordinary that the culture of a republic […]
Realizing anatta (non-self) through Travel
Visiting home. Such a strange thing, to visit one’s home. In this case a period I spent in Montana from 2015-2018. I am no stranger to travels. Despite a youth spent almost exclusively in the rural state of Montana, at age 24 I moved to Bristol, England for a Masters degree in Buddhist Studies. Afterward I […]
On this Day: 30 April
On 30 April 1900 the Hawaiian Organic Act was passed and from that day onwards the Islands have been part of the territory of the United States—although I say this with reservation because at the time a majority of the Hawaiian population was opposed to the process of annexation that started in the 1880’s. Hawaii […]
The Vigil of Silence
Photo by Poorna Jayasinghe The media deals in words as a trade. Words are what media professionals sell, in a sense. Words are penned in a paper or on a website, broadcast through radio and podcasts, or spoken by a personality through the telly, smartphone and tablet, or YouTube. Yet there are those occasions in […]
Seen from the Surface of Mars
Beneath the scars hiddenin the crevasses, two solareclipses can be seen from the surface of Mars.A place where all creaturesknow how to suffer together. A place where forever wild meanssomething more than a bumper sticker.A place where the seas of our galaxycast doubt on the prospects of living.Where everything is an ancient memory,and Hubble’s children are illuminated […]
The Problem with Kindness
There is a gulf between the secular and the religious parts of our lives. In sacred settings we talk about kindness as something valuable and orthodox. At the office, at home, in our neighborhood, in our relationships, and in our friendships, we challenge its value in daily life. I’ve found myself with this bifurcated attitude, […]
The Human Condition in Eight Stanzas
We are part of a family treethat is more than a metaphor.The birds feed off our limbs. And besides, this illness called the Future cannotremain hidden for long.Perhaps more than an enemy, we are something less than that as well. Everything presented to us, we can not seem to find. Everythinggiven to us, we can not seem to hold.Yet selected by the […]