Under a dying Sycamorea soft handsimply rises on my chest bringing something closeto comfortso lonely and satisfied.
A Buddhist Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic
Recently on the PBS News Hour, David Brooks called COVID-19 a national stress test for how well and long we can maintain our collective faith in institutions and each other. Indeed, the coronavirus has shaken the very foundations of society as we all know it. But to call it a stress test is, given what […]
His Shaman Eyes
felt heavy as slabs of sandstone,like the pyramids. But only after he offered prayers tothe unearthed, cleansed bythe drumming, a cold thunder on the dry mouth of an Illinois Prarie.
A Good Friend Is Always Nearby in Spirit
Master Jingzong (English translation by Foyi, edited by Fojin) A good friend is always nearby in spirit even though far away in distance. Loneliness is part of the human experience. Hence the saying, “How hard it is to find a true friend!” Once two people become true friends, they will feel close to each other […]
Bio-graph
The mind is rustlingclothes, sound shadowsand deadening echoes. The feel of her proximityand the wall when a blindman is walking too close. Like black panthers, all of usfind our way by vibrations, when the night gets too dark. And in the morning, the mind isa patch of parsley green moss onthe white flesh of birch trees. […]
The Pedagogy of Prajwal Ratna Vajracharya: Student-Teacher Perspectives
Prajwal Ratna Vajracharya does not need much introduction in the world of Buddhist dance. Much has been written and shot about Charya Nritya, but less often discussed is the pedagogical interplay between teacher and student – the dance, in a sense, between the transmitter of knowledge and those to whom knowledge is being transmitted. While […]
Mobius Strip
To forgive is to release. To let go. To be held. To arrive at where we want to end,we grasp for it. Without knowing how to hold our own hand,we cling to it. Where we came from, Jesus and Buddha are there. Let he who seeks remain always seekinguntil he finds, and when he finds he will be troubled by the face […]
After Breathing
I notice.Everything. How the inkon my paperhas more thanone color of blackand feels delicate as silk. The hard plastic wheels of a stroller scraping the gravel. Like crackling embers,the stillness of a solitary pineneedle sighing in the breeze.An eternal thing, like bloodflowing for its own sake. That spring taskof bringing life again. Or the neighbor’s Calico […]
Bread
Contained in a kernel of wheat,bound by unseen chains of patterns,each branch comes alive with waterand heat. Alive with the digestionof the universe. So we pray: Give usthis day our daily bread, and forgive usour trespasses, as we have forgiven those who trespass against us, notknowing how we were made to rise.
Stillness
Mindfulness is noticingstillness, how the ink on my paper has more than one color of black and feels fluid as silk. It’s noticing the stillness of a solitary pine needle pulsing in the sighing wind. Andthe acrobatic foraging of a squirrel jumping from limb to limb withunhesitating spontaneity. It’s the neighbor’s Calico slouching,preying, lifting each paw as a […]