Average

It’s a practice I’m pretty average at it But compared to what Or to whom? Take Chomsky, for instance: In the 1990s He said that he spent 20-25 hours a week Writing letters This was…

The Good News of a Sangha, 3.25.2017

Five years ago today, Jenn Reyes Lay and I started a  St. Louis sangha in the lineage of Thich Nhat Hanh.   Annie Fitzgerald offered Sophia House  on Gibson Avenue for our first gathering. Many…

Sempre Avanti

Sempre avanti, Italian. “Always keep moving forward.” I first learned this expression from Helena, a friend who typically signed off her letters with this expression, or else with Coraggio. A historian and a convert to…

Gatha of the Week/1

Laura Lapinski recently asked me what a gatha is, as that verse form figures in both The Book of Mev and Dear Layla. That query led to me back to my shelves to peruse Robert Aitken’s book,…

We Share the Same Nature

The power of mindfulness and concentration is the spiritual force behind all of the great men and women of human history. Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Keys (1974) Dipa Ma

Different Paths

In 1933 Martin Heidegger was Rector at the University of Freiburg and a new member of the Nazi Party He was the renowned philosopher of Being In 1933 The boy who became Thich Nhat Hanh…