The Seeds at Work within Us
Years ago, I read with pleasure Goethe’s Maxims and Reflections (translated by Elisabeth Stopp). A good number of them are worth revisiting, much like many of those I’ve encountered over the years from La Rochefoucauld,…
Category: Wisdom Traditions
The Future Belongs to South America
Jessie Sandova, From the Monastery to the World: The Letters of Thomas Merton and Ernesto Cardenal (Counterpoint Press, 2017) I had initial high hopes for reading the correspondence of Thomas Merton and Ernesto Cardenal. I started…
Share the Wealth with Ayesha Akhtar: صبر (Patience)
Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam. Every year, Muslims around the world take part in a month of fasting called Ramadan. Ramadan is considered to be a very holy month for us, and it…
Share the Wealth with Savannah Sisk: Sunday 28 January 2018
“Lying on soft earth, carried into sky by longing, humans respond to stars with questions. Why is the Universe so vast? Why are we so small? Call and response through the night. My whole life…
Dharma Brother Wang Wei
Devoted Buddhist Semi-recluse Noticer of the minute particulars Painter of vast emptiness Appreciator of interbeing moment by moment Befriender of sages, visitors and travelers moving in and out of the Ch’an world His wife dead…
Be Here Now
Andrew Wimmer recently watched the documentary Ram Dass, Fierce Grace. He sent me this reminder…
Aiming for the Supreme Goal in Life
Dear Perry I am sending out the following to a few of my friends, Bengali-Americans, who haven’t heard of Sri Anandamayi Ma. I think they’ll be open to her. I’m grateful we read her before…
Waiting in Line To Order an Espresso
I overheard Sylvie Smith ask Emma Wong “What’s up, haven’t seen you on Snapchat?” “Yeah, I haven’t looked at Snapchat In three weeks” Sylvie looked horrified “THREE WEEKS?!!! What’s going on with you?” “Just into…
For All My Friends Who Are Free Spirits
“What is now proved was once only imagin’d.” –William Blake Free Spirits desire the emancipation of all humankind Free Spirits conceive a habitable, harmonian world Free Spirits know that no revolution has gone far enough…
Some of the Dharma/1
The dharma is everywhere. It doesn’t matter where you are. All emotion is from thinking. In my mind there are three things: concentration, loving-kindness, and peace. Your heart knows everything. Thoughts of the past and…