Zen Flesh Zen Bones
Paul Reps, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings Have the fearless attitude of a hero and the loving heart of a child. — Soyen Shaku Many of us are students…
Category: Wisdom Traditions
Thây’s Journals from the 1960s
Thich Nhat Hanh, Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals 1962-1966* We must strengthen ourselves for the coming test. –Thich Nhat Hanh [p. 66] This book is an enchanting glimpse into the Vietnamese Zen Master long before he…
January 1997 Notes on Thây’s “Cultivating the Mind of Love”
Thich Nhat Hanh. Cultivating the Mind of Love: The Practice of Looking Deeply in the Mayahana Buddhist Tradition. “The best way to touch the Buddha — not to look for a person, a non-person, a…
Saigon, U.S.A (Plus C’est la Même Chose)
…what Americans need to face is that these horrors are in fact being perpetrated with American assent, by a government kept in power solely by American military might, by men paid for by American dollars,…
Toward a Curriculum for an Institute for the Cultivation of Slowness
For Lindsay Morning Aspiration: Upon first waking up in the morning, recite this gatha from Thich Nhat Hanh: “Waking up this morning, I smile: Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to…
When Hamlet Saw Sri Anandamayi Ma
What an uncanny phenomenon is this woman! How penetrating in perception! How infinite in faculties! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god!…
Come, Beloved by Meera
As the lotus dies without water, As the night is blind without the moon, So is my heart without you, Beloved. I wander alone at night, Driven by my longing for you. I hunger for…
Leaving the Comfort Zone
When we get bored and complacent Playing it safe Staying stuck in our routines of “I, me, mine” May we remember and act on that phrase Which can immediately enliven us Bring out our daring…
After Reading Chapter 6 of the Bhagavad Gita
You won’t find It At Cafe Napoli or down on Washington Avenue On Telegraph Ave or at the French Laundry In an apartment overlooking Central Park or a long vacation at a Cannes beach You…
It’s Pounded into Our Heads since Kindergarten
It’s pounded into our heads since kindergarten It gradually inflates the metallic balloon of the self It feeds delusion 24/7 It renders invisible the needs of others It’s A.P. everything It’s resumé padding It’s the…