Photograph by Jens Kolk When I was 9, I knewthat I was ugly. I did notknow how, but I knew. I looked at my reflectionlike a bonobo studies his teeth – both boorish and fervid. Today I know that I am beautiful.Falling asleep to a cold rising dew, I awake just to listen to the soundof […]
Zen and the Art of Kindness
The second noble truth states that suffering is caused by desire. Generally this is understood to mean that the things we want cause us suffering either by not living up to our expectations or by causing us pain when they inevitably go away. This is an accurate assessment, and a good first step in understanding the […]
Weightless Noises
Wounded, we feel witnessedby time-by 200 years of war,a theater of bitter clouds and the breeze rippling the surface. When we glint at the sun, we sail through the carnage. That electrical charge. Thatslanderous appetite of a morning’suncertain future. When we glint, we are back in time.The sound of piercing skin, thunder and other weightless noises. George Cassidy […]
The Day the Buddha Woke Up – A Book for All Children
I met Andrea Miller, deputy editor of Lion’s Roar magazine, in India, during the 6th International Buddhist Conclave. While we did exchange editorial ideas and matters that affected the future of Buddhism around the world, from politics to culture, we also talked about family: she is a mother while I had married just a couple […]
Last Virgin Pine
Solitary and heavyunder the unseated saddleof an infinite sky, Immortality is a ruthless harvester of data: an endless string of half breaths from the last remaining virgin pine. Covered in a bright burst of December snowfall, the sunstruck diamonds smile back. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as […]
Sending Loving-kindness
“Did today’s guided meditation session make your mind happy and peaceful?” I asked this question to Chan Oi Wan, an undergraduate student who was enrolled in a minor course offered by the Centre of Buddhist Studies (CBS) of the University of Hong Kong (HKU). The course was called Buddhist Psychology and Mental Cultivation. 200 undergraduate […]
Swept Away
Swept away.That boy.Out to sea. Taken bythe storm. His motherdid not loseher grip. Her fingerswere his body. She clung withwhat she had. 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 […]
A Measure of the Disorder
It’s ancient Egypt andscarab beetles, too—aneternal recurrence oflives to come nevermore.It’s the narrownessof the trail and the bottomof Avalanche Pass, a dotgleaming like a glatial tarnand the glitter of a river inits entirety. Time. Deep running time. Clinging to cliffs.The edge of a black hole, andimaginary numbers. Whereall space and matter collapse. George Cassidy Payne is […]
Buddhist Media: Jesco Puluj’s Search for Paths Less Travelled
What does it mean to be a follower of the Buddha’s path? The Enlightened One was, after all, the Prime Wanderer, the First Monk. His life, no matter how shadowy from a historical perspective, defines how we see Buddhism and its subsequent presence in human history. In theory, he is not really unique at all, […]
Moral laziness, vegetarianism, and government intervention
This month Thomas Wells, a philosophy professor at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, offered a plea for more active government intervention in our lives. He couches his request in the language of ethics: particularly his own moral laziness. He writes: Some years ago, for instance, I worked through the arguments around animal rights and decided […]