Universal Gatha
Breathing in, I recognize my flawed humanity Breathing out, I smile –shared with me by Ale V.
Category: Wisdom Traditions
The Good News of a Sangha, 3.25.2017
Five years ago today, Jenn Reyes Lay and I started a St. Louis sangha in the lineage of Thich Nhat Hanh. Annie Fitzgerald offered Sophia House on Gibson Avenue for our first gathering. Many…
The Good News of a Single Blueberry, 3.19.2017
Almost five years ago, Erin Szopiak organized a mindful dinner for some of our friends: Everything for the menu had been grown locally, several of us helped prepare the meal in the King’s spacious kitchen,…
The Good News of Translation, 3.17.2017
Opera excepted, I never asked myself, in those early years of reading literature in translation, what I was missing. It was as if I felt it were my job, as a passionate reader, to see…
What Jarvis Learned
At a recent gathering of the Saint Louis Mindfulness Sangha, I shared the following excerpt from Pema Chödrön’s book, Go to the Places That Scare You… The second of the three lords of materialism is the…
On Hope and Expectation
Hope itself is a species of happiness, and perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords: but, like all other pleasures immoderately enjoyed, the excesses of hope must be expiated by pain; and expectations improperly…
How To Practice Buddhism in a Nation Perpetually at War
First, deal with your koan: “Do not kill. Do not let others kill. Find whatever means possible to protect life and prevent war.” Second, deepen your breathing. Third, most importantly, build the sangha based on…
How To Practice Buddhism in a Nation Perpetually at War
First, deal with your koan: “Do not kill. Do not let others kill. Find whatever means possible to protect life and prevent war.” Second, deepen your breathing. Third, most importantly, build the sangha based on…
Good News Variations: A Spring Writing Course 2017
Since mid-November, I’ve had exchanges with numerous people who were consumed with dread at so much bad news in the news. One afternoon, while walking in the Central West End, I was reminded of…
From Thirty Years Ago: Thich Nhat Hanh
Many of us worry about the world situation. We don’t know when the bombs will explode. We feel that we are on the edge of time. As individuals, we feel helpless, despairing. The situation is so…