Dostoevsky Wrote That Beauty Will Save the World
Years ago A friend gave me a Thomas Merton book– New Seeds of Contemplation— He inscribed it with the following From poet W.H. Auden: “The funniest and kindest of mortals Are those who are most…
Author: Mark J. Chmiel
When I Listen and Re-listen to Your Messages
I listened to your voicemail at 3:21 am today Or is it tomorrow? I’m lost, but it doesn’t matter Because I always have your voice messages to reorient me Working the night shift 14 hours…
United States of Ch’an (Round up of the Last Week)
Reading Penelope Fitzgerald is ch’an Stretching out on the beach is ch’an Quitting your suckey job is ch’an Sitting and not being productive is ch’an Befriending your arch-nemesis is ch’an Attending to your 13th patient…
Le Monomanie Merveilleux
Learn it by heart Sur mes cahiers d’écolier Summon it when staring into the abyss Sur toutes les pages blanches Translate it into new millennial American English Sur l’écho de mon enfance One year, translate…
Zen Flesh Zen Bones
Paul Reps, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings Have the fearless attitude of a hero and the loving heart of a child. — Soyen Shaku Many of us are students…
On Segev’s The 7th Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust
The following is a short summary and commonplace passages with comments on Tom Segev’s book, The 7th Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust. It’s one of the many books I examined when writing my first…
Thây’s Journals from the 1960s
Thich Nhat Hanh, Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals 1962-1966* We must strengthen ourselves for the coming test. –Thich Nhat Hanh [p. 66] This book is an enchanting glimpse into the Vietnamese Zen Master long before he…
January 1997 Notes on Thây’s “Cultivating the Mind of Love”
Thich Nhat Hanh. Cultivating the Mind of Love: The Practice of Looking Deeply in the Mayahana Buddhist Tradition. “The best way to touch the Buddha — not to look for a person, a non-person, a…
Beautiful
6:00 a.m. Already 88 degrees Dear Bella In Spiritual Practice class yesterday I asked the students to make a list Of their ordinary daily activities They took a few minutes And came up with a…
Insertion
Wherever you have refugees, you have vultures who feed off them. –Kuan Ying, quoted in Lady Borton, Sensing the Enemy: An American Woman among the Boat People of Vietnam [101] Three worlds collide in this…