From Antigone to Thich Nhat Hanh
Teach us to care and not to care…T.S. Eliot, Ash Wednesday Over the years when reading Sophocles’ Antigone, I tended to see her as the conscientious heroine, standing alone against her uncle Creon, the brutal…
Category: Buddhism
Today’s One-Liner (#29)
In my mind there are three things: concentration, loving-kindness, and peace. –Dipa Ma, in Amy Schmidt, Dipa Ma: The Life and Teachings of a Buddhist Master
Today’s One-Liner (#14)
Everything is impermanent, even my teeth. –Munindra, in Mirka Knaster, Living This Life Fully: Stories and Teachings of Munindra
Today’s One-Liner (#9)
Blaming never helps. –Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step
Today’s One-Liner (#3)
May I be a light for those in need of light. –Shantideva, The Bodhicaryavatara: A Guide to the Buddhist Path of Awakening, translated by Kate Crosby & Andrew Skilton
Our Emanation Bodies
At the time I wrote that small book [The Miracle of Mindfulness], I could not have imagined the effect it would have in the world. It has been translated into twenty-five languages, reprinted many times,…
Go to Hell
“Keep you mind in hell, and despair not.” –Staretz Silouan, 1866-1938, quoted in Gillian Rose, Love’s Work: A Reckoning with Life Ksitigarbha … made the great vow to go into the hell realm so that…
Long Live Detachment
Those who follow the path of service renounce their selfish attachments, and work with the body, senses, and mind for the sake of self-purification. The man whose consciousness is unified abandons all attachment to the…
Choosing Guiding Means
A few years ago I read Amos Oz’s trenchant book, How to Cure a Fanatic. His context was the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Therein, Oz noted that “the essence of fanaticism lies in…
Hold It All
Joseph Needham has described the unity of Chinese civilisation as organismic, with the various parts functioning like those of a living organism. We think of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, and even of popular religion. These…