Dying almost assoon as it is born,the heart dances ingroups of newborn stars. The heart isa constellation- a great disk shaped systemof gas, a retinue of unlit planets: An accident by the standards of the cosmos. Like a colossal swarm and a starsimply spluttering its way througha long series of ordinary eruptions. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work […]
Always Ringing
To make the headempty is such a heavything to do. For our minds are like a set of clear bucketshung out to gather rain. To be free of the distance betweenour father’s voice is such a close sound-one always ringing from the void. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in […]
What the “Buddhist Poker Player” can teach us about Buddhist Ethics
Buddhist ethics can be a difficult topic to study or discuss in the contemporary age. Ethics as a category of peoples’ lives has come to seem too prescriptive, too authoritarian, too distant. The communal and developmental ideals embodied in traditional systems of thought, from Buddhist to Aristotelian to Christian, have been largely set aside by […]
Yashodhara: The Buddha’s Wife in Many Lives
Buddha begging for food in front of his wife Yashodhara and his son Rahula. Cave 17, Ajanta. From personal.carthage.edu Yashodhara, which means “Bearer of Glory,” was the wife of Prince Siddhartha and the mother of their son, Rahula. She was born in the Sun Clan, to the daughter of King Suppabuddha and Amita. Amita was […]
Let the Lotus Bloom Forth: Buddhism in India
2019 marked the 70th anniversary of the promulgation of India’s constitution: itself a complex and multilayered story in which Buddhism is interwoven. This year’s reception bid farewell to Mr. Puneet Agrawal as India’s consul-general in Hong Kong and Macau. Buddhistdoor Global first began collaborating on Buddhist projects with his predecessor. Under Shri Puneet Agrawal’s consulship, […]
Ordinary Like Our Sun
There are many kinds of deserts,but they all reject the notion that lifeshould flourish. That’s gravity. A grim background disturbing the atmosphere. But it can’t make you fall in love, or at least that’swhat Einstein said. With an exquisite fussiness, it intones mystical equations and leaks blood in -alabaster basins. Gravity is a creature of two […]
Simulator
At the science museum they have a simulator. This one puts you on the surface of the Moon.It’s fun and unique for an adult. For a 3 year old,it’s a little terrifying. With every bump and shakeof the machine, he holds my shoulders a little tighter. I tell him we are almost done and he says […]
Shortcomings and Spiritual Renewal
In the March of 2017, during a conference trip to Nalanda in India (the old site of this long-lost seat of Buddhist learning is particularly dusty during this time of year), I came down with a terrible hacking cough. I remember my diaphragm aching with each breath I took, even as I felt the overwhelming […]
Master Huijing’s Short Dharma Teachings about Attributes of the Pure Land Sect of Buddhism: Worldly Truths (2)
A passage from the I Ching can be taken as our “mirror” to reflect on the cultivation of morality – Scoundrels shift blame and snatch credit. Ordinary people cover up mistakes and flaunt their achievements. Superior persons decline acclaim and reward for their accomplishments. Those of surpassing virtue share the bitterness and blame from others’ […]
A Good Kiss
A good kiss smells like nectar-filled factories and feels like skin wrapped over a corpse. Erupting from long-patient seeds,it stands still in the mouth, as eyelids movewith the vaporizing speed of a crouching cougarat a midday spring. Shimmering ghostly white. A good kiss is petite, luminous, and stingless.Buzzing like undisturbed bees sipping from the edges covered with pink and emerald beadwork, […]