Ninety Years Alive on Earth
On Thich Nhat Hanh, At Home in the World: Stories and Essential Teachings from a Monk’s Life. Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2016. Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh is a survivor. Narrowly missing death in…
Category: Wisdom Traditions
The Good News of the Barakats, 4.6.2017
Last night, Sharifa Barakat and I had dinner at Central Cafe (along with Imman Musa and Dania Saffaf Atienza). Sarah Dwidar introduced me to Sharifa her freshman year at SLU on sunny day on West…
Universal Gatha
Breathing in, I recognize my flawed humanity Breathing out, I smile –shared with me by Ale V.
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…