Dr. Jon Kolkin’s photographic volume Inner Harmony: Living in Balance exudes creative ambition and heart. A cursory look at the time it took for him to compile this collection of images – seventeen extended visits to Asia from 2007 to 2018 – attests to the time, patience, and toil that the distinguished and globe-trotting creator […]
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Breckenridge
Unimpressed with me or my camera, the raven, clove black with a touch of tar, draws easily from the pine needle-covered stream. So easily, the way honeysuckle curls over the broken necks of cedar, or how, in slumbering isolation, a reddish shade of Colorado awakens as a poet ready to desert his own mind. 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 […]
Dealing with Anti-Asian Racism
By Rima Fujita Racism against Asians has always existed in the US for centuries, but it has been drastically escalated ever since the former President Trump’s numerous racial remarks. He kicked-off his campaign by calling Mexicans “rapists” and at the end of his term referred to COVID-19 as the “China Virus.” It has been said […]
Book Review: “American JewBu”
I first came across American JewBu at the beginning of 2020 and it was incredibly eye opening. Having practiced Buddhism in Europe for over a decade, somehow I went all that time without recognizing the incredible contribution that Jewish Americans have made to Buddhism as it is commonly practiced in the Western world. The book was published […]
Book Review: “Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out”
Feature image art from: https://www.taracousineau.com Ruth King teaches mindfulness meditation at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and at the Insight Meditation Society. She is also the founder of Mindful Race Institute, LLC, and a celebrated author. Although I have never met her, to me King is one of those Dharma teachers who seems to truly embody the […]
On this Day: 30 April
On 30 April 1900 the Hawaiian Organic Act was passed and from that day onwards the Islands have been part of the territory of the United States—although I say this with reservation because at the time a majority of the Hawaiian population was opposed to the process of annexation that started in the 1880’s. Hawaii […]
Tea by the Batten Kill
Rinsing away theworld, from a widow’speak above the Batten Kill, with a cup of rose tips, everything burned leavesthe fragrance of her dried lips,like old questions interrupted. 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, […]
Spiritual Colossi: Buddhism and Christianity in China and America
As the United States launches its long-awaited trade war against China, I wonder whether something subtler, but just as significant, is bubbling under the already tumultuous surface. I pondered for a short while whether this observation held any water. After all, indirect pressures or persuasions, rather than outright pronunciations and their enforcement, characterize the influence […]
Buddhism and Today: Ancient Principles, Contemporary Conscience
Buddhism. It’s a millennia-long religious story that begins at Lumbini, at the foothills of the Himalayas in Nepal, where the historical Buddha, Prince Siddhartha Gautama, was born. There, he lived in comfort, until, the legend tells us, he was motivated to begin his journey to Buddhahood after seeing a white-haired, wrinkled old man dressed in […]
If you think of the dark
Ratnadevi I see this poem by Carol Ann Duffy, the current UK poet laureate on our bathroom wall every day; it helps me to keep my cool when faced with the many concerns of 21st century living that easily spark fear. For example: the recent election of Donald Trump as the American president. In a […]