Primacy
“[Shoshani] didn’t teach piety; he taught the texts. The texts are more fundamental—and vaster—than piety. “ –Emmanuel Levinas
Category: Wisdom Traditions
On Ryōkan
The following was written about Japanese Zen Master Ryōkan by a friend… When Ryōkan visits it is as if spring had come on a dark winter’s day. His character is pure and he is free of…
Share the Wealth: “Walking in Beauty: Our Time with the Navajo” with Patrick Cousins
Patrick Cousins has been invested in the life of the Navajo Nation for nearly twenty years, including two years teaching in a Navajo high school and leading roughly twenty immersion groups to the reservation. Patrick…
Communities of Resistance
Dear Sangha, I’ve been rereading book I first encountered back in the 1980s, The Raft Is Not the Shore. (This title will remind some of us of our recent sutra readings.) It’s a dialogue between Thich…
Metta Aspiration by Penny Smith & Mark Chmiel
Metta upon waking up in the morning Metta upon waking up in snaked snarky traffic jam Metta toward the beloved Metta toward the janitor Metta for those sitting in jail cells Metta for your boss…
Compromismo/2 (Reading/3)
Dear Professor So last night I went with my friends to this bar The same bar they’ve been going to for two years Drinking the same overpriced drinks they always drink Making the same chit-chat…
Leçon de français d’aujourd’hui
Un poème de Thich Nhat Hanh Ne dites pas, je serai parti demain, car je ne cesse de naître, aujourd’hui encore. Regardez en profondeur : je nais à chaque seconde bourgeon sur une branche printanière,…
How Father Ignacio Ellacuría Saw Us
In regard to the ideal of the dominant old human being in the so-called North Atlantic and Western Christian civilization, certain features have to be rejected. These include its radical insecurity which leads it to…
Remembering the Salvadoran Martyrs Reading Group
Dear Friends, We have been turning over in our minds the following reflection from an interview with U.S. linguist and activist Noam Chomsky (1996): Closer to the explanation is your observation that they [Eastern European…
The Moon Cannot Be Stolen
Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing in it…