Making Everyone Happy
Melita Maschmann, Encountering Bliss: My Journey through India with Ānandamayī MāDelhi : Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 2002 It is as difficult to escape the grace of a Guru, as the revenge of a tiger.Indian proverb Last…
Author: Mark J. Chmiel
Spinoza Sees into the Future When Twitter Reigns
“The love of esteem [Gloria] which is called empty [vana] is acquiescentia in se ipso that is encouraged only by the opinion of the multitude. When that ceases, the acquiescentia in se ipso ceases, i.e….
Becoming a Mensch
Alan Morinis, Climbing Jacob’s Ladder: One Man’s Journey to Rediscover a Jewish Spiritual TraditionTrumpeter, 2002 Alan Morinis offers an engaging account of how he came to re-order his life according to the Jewish practice of…
Share the Wealth: Remembering Syria by Sana Aslam
In my Comparative Religion and Culture class, I asked students to write a personal spirituality paper. I invite you to read and discuss with us the following reflection from Sana Aslam. Join usSunday 12 December7…
A Small Part in the Cosmic Play
Mukunda: In the Iyrics to that song “Awaiting on You All,” from the All Things Must Pass album, you come right out front and tell people that they can be free from living in the…
Chinese Communists, Vietnamese Buddhists
Liu Shao-Chi, How To be a Good CommunistForeign Language Press, Peking 1964 Thich Nhat Hanh, Interbeing: Commentaries on the Tiep Hien PreceptsParralax Press, Berkeley, 1987 An immature revolutionary has to go through a long process…
Share the Wealth with Sarah Bollinger: How to Get Lost – A Field Guide to Healing from Evangelical Fundamentalism
I am a mental health therapist in the south, which means that I run my private practice in the heart of the Bible Belt. Many of my clients have been marginalized and even traumatized from…
Train Wholeheartedly
Attention [prosoche] is the fundamental Stoic spiritual attitude. It is a continuous vigilance and presence of mind, self consciousness which never sleeps, and a constant tension of the spirit. Thanks to this attitude, the philosopher…
Quit Complaining!
Cold Mountain: 100 Poems by the T’ang Poet Han-shanTranslated and with an Introduction by Burton Watson I first learned of Han-shan 30 years ago when reading Jack Kerouac’s novel, The Dharma Bums, which starred Japhy…
A Letter from Yael
Recently Yael asked me to share some favorite haiku writers, which I happily sent along, along with Yoel Hoffman’s book, Japanese Death Poems. I received the following response. 10/24/21 What a delight. Three big envelops all…