Under Pressure

The Wretched Truth One of the very worst things in life… is when you cannot help or be with someone you love who is working 100 hours a week. Every week. Deepest Darkest Insecurities by…

Dharma Sister

From the Cover of Amy Schmidt’s book on Dipa Ma Revision The poet W. H. Auden wrote “The funniest and kindest of mortals Are those who are most aware of the baffle of being” (A…

Wartime during Life/1

What Catches Our Attention (And What Doesn’t) Reshma observed About a group of doctors she works with “They talk all about Lady Gaga But nothing about the wars we’re in” For Robert To Whom It…

No Lectures, No Tracts, No Prayers

Roy Morris, Jr., The Better Angel: Walt Whitman in the Civil War This book tells the story of Walt’s  practice of the 4th Tiep Hien precept, not to look away from suffering. Actually, here’s the…

Please Bodhisattva

For All Allen Ginsbergs Everywhere Oh Bodhisattva I’m a slacker Ach Bodhisattva My mind sometimes is so many-pointed Dear Bodhisattva I’ve grown weary of always having an angle Woe is me Bodhisattva My middle name…

The Power of Example

for Michelle Conley For years in my Social Justice course at Saint Louis University, I assigned the 1993 paperback by Cao Ngoc Phuong entitled, Learning True Love: How I Learned & Practiced Social Change in Vietnam….

The Only Statement That Counts

for Yoshifugi In 1974 at an amazing conference was held at St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York. Christians and Jews gathered to confront the question, “Auschwitz: Beginning of a New Era?”  Catholic theologians…