Making the Best of Tough Situations
Three summers ago, some friends came to our Chouteau home for two months of Wednesday evenings to reflect on Thich Nhat Hanh’s autobiography, At Home in the World. Just today a chapter from that book…
Category: Buddhism
“You Are That Person”
A student asked Soen Nakagawa During a meditation retreat: “I am very discouraged. What should I do?” Soen replied, “Encourage others.” At the beginning of this year, I read Kazuaki Tanahashi’s autobiography, Painting Peace: Art…
“Doing Your Best Is the Surest Way to Remind Those around You to Do Their Best”
Today in Intercultural Studies class I shared some famous passages from the manual Thich Nhat Hanh wrote for Vietnamese social workers back in the 1970s. If you are familiar with this Zen Master, you may…
All Part of the Great Life Force
Mayumi Oda, I Opened the Gate, Laughing: An Inner Journey Mayumi’s inner journey meant getting divorced from her husband (John Nathan) and reconnecting with the Buddhism of her youth, as well as finding her path…
Now
1. Thoughts of the past and future spoil your time. –Dipa Ma, in Amy Schmidt, Dipa Ma: The Life and Teachings of a Buddhist Master 2. If I had to use one single word to…
The Good News of Dipa Ma
Dear Friends, There’s a phrase I came across in the last twenty years—“news you can use”—which I think came from one of Pema Chödrön ’s books. Which reminds me of U.S. poet Ezra Pound’s version…
Medicine for the Sick
The Dalai Lama: We should have this [compassion] from the depths of our heart, as if it were nailed there. Such compassion is not merely concerned with a few sentient beings such as friends and…
With Gratitude for Amy Schimdt
I am happy to be able to introduce friends to Dipa Ma in our “Facing the Future” class beginning next week: Because Dipa Ma was able literally to see through the stories of the mind,…
Stephen Batchelor’s Gotama: A Dissenter, a Radical, an Iconoclast
Stephen Batchelor has been exploring for quite some time a Buddhism with overt religiosity stripped away. His thoughtful, engaging project reminds me of a similar one undertaken by John Dominic Crossan regarding the historical Jesus….
Facing the Future: Resources for Resistance and a Rebirth of Wonder
Dipa Ma’s greatest gift to me was showing what was possible—and living it. She was impeccable about effort. People with this ability to make effort are not disheartened by how long it takes, how difficult…