Not Flustered, Not Melancholy, Not Anxious

James Laughlin, Ezra Pound’s publisher, observed that “Pound’s translations of Confucian texts, beautiful as is their language, are seldom applauded by Sinologues.” But we common readers may appreciate such versions from the Analects, when  they…

Making Everyone Happy

Melita Maschmann, Encountering Bliss: My Journey through India with Ānandamayī MāDelhi : Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 2002 It is as difficult to escape the grace of a Guru, as the revenge of a tiger.Indian proverb Last…

Becoming a Mensch

Alan Morinis,  Climbing Jacob’s Ladder: One Man’s Journey  to Rediscover a Jewish Spiritual TraditionTrumpeter, 2002 Alan Morinis  offers an engaging account of how  he came to  re-order his life according to the Jewish practice of…

A Small Part in the Cosmic Play

Mukunda: In the Iyrics to that song “Awaiting on You All,” from the All Things Must Pass album, you come right out front and tell people that they can be free from living in the…

Chinese Communists, Vietnamese Buddhists

Liu Shao-Chi, How To be a Good CommunistForeign Language Press, Peking 1964 Thich Nhat Hanh, Interbeing: Commentaries on the Tiep Hien PreceptsParralax Press, Berkeley, 1987 An immature revolutionary has to go through a long process…