Author: Mark J. Chmiel

Gatha of the Week/1

Laura Lapinski recently asked me what a gatha is, as that verse form figures in both The Book of Mev and Dear Layla. That query led to me back to my shelves to peruse Robert Aitken’s book,…

Writing Practice in Haiti, 2010

Occasionally, Sara Rendell asks me for some writing topics for her to take off on.  Thus, the following  email… Tuesday 3 August 2010 Dear Sara, Try these! Looking at the moon at night in Haiti…

A Poem by Yael Diplacido-Eastman

A week after your death I’m on my hot pink bike Seeing every wooly caterpillar On its way across my path The trees above are leaning forward Lamenting with a dance of Falling leaves Their…

We Share the Same Nature

The power of mindfulness and concentration is the spiritual force behind all of the great men and women of human history. Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Keys (1974) Dipa Ma

Wake Up!

Zen Student: So, Master, is the soul immortal or not? Do we survive our bodily death or do we get annihilated? Do we really incarnate? Does our soul split up into component parts which get…

We Inter-Are/458

1. Mev was inside of me And so I wrote a book And Miriam read the book And Mev was inside of her And when Miriam was with Johnny Mev ended up inside of him…

Teachers

Dear Simone, As much as I love to read, I think if we only had was Easwaran’s translation of the Dhammapada, Schmidt’s book on Dipa Ma, and Knaster’s book on Munindra, we’d have enough teaching,…