Ven. Guan Cheng unpacks the Yogacara school’s rich and powerful philosophy of mind and consciousness with relatability, humor, and applicable case studies
consciousness
“Welcome to our Bardo”—Anam Thubten Rinpoche on the State of the World
Anam Thubten Rinpoche shares his thoughts about the world in 2024 and how changing our consciousness can transform society
Clocks
How long would the music be withoutseconds and minutes? The feeling of time is different. Put away your phones. Cover your watches.Eliminate all the telling devices. Play Japanese flutes. And ask how long the musicwill play for. How do you keep track?
A Canceled Appointment
I speak and my wordsdisrupt the universe. I touch and my fingerprintsearn marks in the earth that will outlast mountains.If you cancel, I will be born again. If you don’t, I will live forever.
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 […]
Messiahs
Between colors and worlds,as old as fish dying on the hot sands,because the gods are jealous and concernedabout us, we are stuck to a diamond-shaped rockof slate, just like any savior who cameby ship and went.
The Teacher Who Dispels the Darkness of Ignorance and Brings the Light of Wisdom
28 October marks one year since the passing of my beloved teacher, Professor Alexander Fedotoff (1956– 2018). He was an outstanding erudite, a polyglot, and professor of Korean, Mongolian, and Tibetan literature. He was born in Novosibirsk, Russia and graduated from the Department of Mongolian Studies and Tibetology in the Faculty of Asian and African […]
The Blankness of Being
(Inspired by the Zen masters of China) Consciousnessis too free Like the stars in outer space and the severed head of Kalisweeping away dust forever making death howlknowing that we do not want to be in church Like being buried alive in the same place where we beganas if we had never existed at all. George Cassidy […]
Daydreamers
Despite my urgent need to tap into somethingthat is necessary for my time, I am left with a visionof numbers. My pagan blood and sleeping momentson the beach. Why do I still want to be Jimmy Buffett? Idle and brutal from all eternity, like Rimbaud, sittingon a park bench with my two best friends. The wind blowing. The […]
Go Ahead and Steal My Shoes
Inspired by Wayne Dyer Go ahead and steal my shoes. It doesn’t matter when youwalk on holy ground. Learning what you love,there is a purpose to get on with. A knowing that overcomes suffering. George Cassidy Payne is a poet from Rochester, NY. His work has been included in such publications as the Hazmat Review, […]