Three Lives, in New York. From Intelligencer I need my used bookstore. The sensuous aromas of waxy skin jackets andmahogany shelves, paperskeletons in an excavatedashram of introspection.I need what it stashes awaybehind a Tom Clancy noveland an old National Geographic.Eureka! That one book, at sometime misplaced in my mind,appearing as a lost symbol ofwilderness, casting a garland-clothed silhouette, as flannel-shirted, torn-jeaned, leather- sandalled […]
Guru
I make offerings with my body, speech and mindMay we understand the principle of the LotusThe inherent purity of the mindThe jewel that is beyond contaminationIn this difficult times of poverty, sickness, ignorance, violence and greed Please, Lotus Born, guide usOffer the shelter of your wisdom mindBring our experience to Dharma,Magnetizing our willEnhance our qualities […]
Your Homegrown Smile
is delicious. It’sbright and round like cherrytomatoes pulledfrom a soil bed. Gripped by twohands, with white chalklined canals running across thepalms, the flowering green, sea monstershaped stems sproutaround fingernails, andhair on the wrists ofa sunburned forearm. When I think about yoursmile, I think about home.The rain on my family farm,all season long it rains. I think about the […]
The Five Hindrances
As human beings, we sometimes falter when we walk the Buddhist path. We have the best of intentions; hoping against hope to end suffering for ourselves and other sentient beings. But inevitably, obstacles arise that make it difficult for us to walk the path. This is especially true when it comes to the practice of Right Effort. […]
Two Monks Arguing About Movement
It’s not the leaves that move. Nor is it the Banyan tree. The mind moves both of them,as if they were constructed of thoughts from the river’s basement, Rising from the cracks,where my grandfather usedto lay his line, like the idea of wind and Banyan trees- not unlike the ideaof crawfish and trout, everything struckwith the face of awe, a holy agreement.that we can all be residents of a sunlit world.
Parnashavari: Goddess of Natural Healing
Parnashavari. From quora.com ཨོཾ་པི་ཤ་ཙི་པརྞ་ཤ་ཝ་རི་སརྦ་ཛྭ་ར་པྲ་ཤཱ་མ་ན་ཡེ་སྭཱ་ཧཱ། OM PISHATSI PARNA SHAVARI SARVA ZVARA PRASHA MANI SVAHA Parnashavari (Tib. Loma Gyonma) is a healing goddess who removes contagious and epidemic diseases. Her name means “dressed in leaves” and she embodies our connection with nature and natural methods of healing. She is an example of an Indian folk deity absorbed […]
Where Deer Sleep
My three-year-old sonasked me where deer sleep.So I took him there. Steppinginto a space that is not meantfor fathers and sons, we founda ritual that has nothing to dowith us. An original grace. A serenitythat evokes the burden of redemption.That place where deer sleep, under aplumbeous sky, the pods of grass benttoward the center of […]
While Passing By a Church Near My Home
I think about how the hive mindknows how to act in one direction,with one will and one purpose. Chanting with all those lungs,a thin transparent tissue of light rays through the diaphragm, Just as Ayutthaya tests it with dreams, those unconscious proofs of heaven framed insidethe aperture only. Your saint, the one who youfollow with a deep personal […]
Master Huijing’s Short Dharma Teachings about Taking Refuge in Amitabha
Amitabha Buddha’s light is infinite and boundless, illuminating all of the worlds in the boundless and endless universe. In terms of space, he can deliver sentient beings in any place. Amitabha Buddha is omnipresent, pervading in all Dharma realms throughout endless empty space. The vastness of Amitabha Buddha has no limit. There is no space […]
Kumarajiva Project: A 60-year Tibetan-Chinese Translation Initiative from Khyentse Foundation
Statue of Kumarajiva outside the Kizil Caves. From China Discovery There are two “buzzwords” in the Buddhist world today. One is obviously mindfulness and has dominated contemporary discourse for decades. The other is translation, and despite being overshadowed by mindfulness to some extent actually remains one of the most important activities of the global Buddhist […]