The Dewdrop
THIS WEEK'S BLOG
Jane Hirshfield – All The Difficult Hours and Minutes
In Hirshfield’s poem, calamity turns to calmness when things turn into themselves, a principle that goes to the heart of transformative practice.
What is Meditation? Shinzen Young on How to Deepen Our Focus
Shinzen Young on the most basic principle of mindfulness meditation: the cultivation of focus that can be practiced at any moment of the day, during any activity.
Shangyang Fang – Chaconne
Fang’s beautiful and complex poem addresses the questions of sin and redemption against the background of a young monk entering a monastery.
INTERVIEWS
Jenna Wysong Filbrun – Church
Barry Casey – Wait Here
Susan Coultrap-McQuin – Seeking Stars
Cristina Legarda – Mary
Read deep - breathe easy
Pandemic Snow
BY JONATHAN H. MARKS
A few years ago, when I was on an international fellowship in Geneva, some friends asked me to go to the mountains for the afternoon.
Flow
BY JESSE CURRAN
For the first mile, I replay last night. New Year’s Eve. We’re celebrating from our separate living rooms…
MICRO GALLERY
Owen Brown – Emerging
Owen Brown’s paintings slide between representation and abstraction as he explores everything from the snow shades of Minnesota winters to his son’s cancer treatment.
On Being Plan B
BY ELIZABETH BLUE
The car that had been broken into wasn’t mine. It wasn’t his, either. Technically it belonged to his girlfriend – his primary partner of fifteen years.
The River Cabin
BY CAITE MCNEIL
Making the decision to move back to Maine wasn’t easy for a mother who wanted her daughter to love her home as much as she does.
FEATURED AUTHORS AND POETS
BOOK EXCERPTS
Joseph Campbell On Experiencing Mystery
Joseph Campbell takes on the notion of experiencing mystery and considers how religious narratives can actually stymie the expansive human experience of transcendence.
You Have To Say Something: Dainin Katagiri on What To Say When There Is Nothing To Say
According to Katagiri, it can be difficult to find the words or modality to enter back into the world from a place of silence, but it is something we ultimately have to do.
Astronomer Pippa Goldschmidt on Seeing Far and Seeing Up Close
Astronomer Pippa Goldschmidt on working in the starry deserts of Chile during a time when new technologies meant a more remote relationship to the act of stargazing.
The Full Awareness of Breathing
In the Anapanasati Sutta, the Buddha presents a visceral kind of practice with the breath, that illuminates the experience of joy, calm and impermanence.
The Self is Tied to This Body Like an Ox to a Cart
One of the most well-known sections of the Chandogya Upanishad is the story of Indra, King of the Gods, Virochana King, of the Godless and their encounter with the sage Prajapati.
Each Breath One Takes is a Step Towards One’s Destiny
Teachings about the cultivation of wisdom by the Sufi Master and the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin, Hadrat ‘Alî.
The Buddha’s Last Teaching: Be Your Own Island, Your Own Refuge
The Buddha’s final words of advice to his students before he died were to take refuge in the dharma and in themselves.
Dogen’s Seal of the Ocean: How Meditation and Life Can Flow Like Water
Japanese Zen Master Eihei Dogen invokes an oceanic state of non-identification as something that expresses the true Dharma, or our true nature, according to the teachings of Buddha.
Want More?
THE ALAN WATTS CORNER
Running With Life: Alan Watts on Freedom and Poverty
Alan Watts unpacks the imperative not to hold on to things, but to adopt a kind of psychological poverty—or simplicity— in which the mind is clear and unfettered in a way that allows it the space for true spontaneity.
Alan Watts and Divine Play
Alan Watts delves into one of his favorite and recurring subjects – the way in which we over-identify with the parts we play.
What Have You Left Out? Alan Watts on the Limits of Perception
Alan Watts often said that in order to come to your senses, you have to get out of your mind. Watts was emphatic about self-realization and breaking through cultural and psychic barriers in order to live as a fully-fledged, fearless human being.
Brahman, God, Allah and the Tao – Alan Watts
Among Alan Watts’ most compelling qualities was his fascination with different systems of faith and his
Body Like a Rag, Mind Like a Mirror – Guo Gu Breaking Through Boundaries
Chan teacher Guo Gu on silent illumination, punk music and his teacher Sheng Yen’s legacy.
Surviving Intact – Norman Fischer on Zen, Language and Growing Old
Zen teacher and poet Norman Fischer on where and how poetry and Zen practice meet and interact.
Why I Write – A Conversation with Kathleen Dean Moore
Author and activist Kathleen Dean Moore on what inspires her, what drives her, and her struggle to write about hope.
‘Telling Stories is the Single Thing That Makes Us Human’ – A Conversation with Adam Mansbach
A conversation with Adam Mansbach about loss, grief, and the process of writing his new book, I Had a Brother Once, in the form of an epic poem.
Embodying Grief – A Conversation with Liz Tichenor
Author and priest Liz Tichenor talks about her book The Night Lake, about dealing with loss and what the topography of grief looks like after seven years.
Why I Write – Nicholas Trandahl
Religion and faith are two of the most difficult subjects to write about according to Nicholas Trandahl, author of the poem, The Chapel.
THE BEATS
BROWSE BY THEME
MYSTICS
Eighteen Thousand Universes Through Eighteen Thousand Eyes
The Sacred is the Everyday – Joan Chittister
Thomas Merton on Solitude, Authenticity and Being
Gurdjieff and The Two Rivers
Blinded by the Sun – St Teresa of Avila
“Don’t Tell Me Who I Am Yet. It Is Still Being Spelled Out”
Kabir – The Moon Shines in my Body
Rumi’s Guest House
POPULAR READS
BROWSE SUBJECTS
FROM THE ZEN GARDEN
Anger Is Me and I Am Anger
Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh on how we can become intimate and compassionate with our own anger and even transform it into love.
Dave Sims – Watercolors
Dave Sims’ watercolor paintings are a submission to the chance of creation and a surrender to emptiness.
Buddhism’s Most Basic Teaching: Everything Changes
Shunryu Suzuki on our inability to accept the truth that we and everything around us are in a state of constant flux.
Improvisations in Jazz – Bill Evans’ Kind of Blue Liner Notes
Bill Evans on Miles Davis’ vision of the direct deed, and how they improvised something that evaded explanation.
You Have to Have a Cup
The Empty Mirror is Janwillem van de Wettering’s memoir of his time at a Japanese Zen monastery where he stayed for over a year in the late 1950s.
The Moon in the Water, the Body in the Mirror
Samurai Yagyu Munenori uses the popular Zen image of the moon reflected in the water to explain its application in martial arts training.
How to Dance? Lessons from a Zen Master
Jundo Cohen paints a picture of the universe as an integrated and indivisible dance, in which certain elements temporarily swirl out then return to the whole.
Bodhidharma’s Bloodstream Sermon
Bodhidharma’s fundamental teaching was that the Buddha can only be found in the mind since its essence is mind itself.
The Great, Generous Laugh
Susan Murphy’s book, The Red Thread, addresses the guts and gore of the flesh-and-blood humans who sustain spiritual practice in the midst of desire, mortality and heartbreak.
Kodo Sawaki Gathered Together: Arthur Braverman’s ‘Discovering the True Self’
Arthur Braverman gathers all of Kodo Sawaki’s teachings together in his impressive new book on the Zen Master.
Returning Home – From Keizan Jokin’s Zazen Yojinki
The Zazen Yojinki, written by 14th century Japanese master Keizan Jokin, covers the fundamental aspects of zazen, the form of Zen meditation.
Respecting Ourselves, Respecting Things
Zenkei Blanche Hartman discusses respect for the physical world, which starts with respect for ourselves, grounded in interconnectedness.
KEEP READING
‘A Heart Slowly Reduced to Embers’: W. G. Sebald on the Fires That Burn Inside and Outside
“From the earliest times, human civilization has been no more than a strange luminescence growing more intense by the hour, of which no one can say when it will begin wane and when it will fade away.”
Guo Gu’s Guide to Silent Illumination
The core of Chan meditation is the concrete experience of being in the present moment, not holding on to any mental concept or idea about oneself or one’s activity
‘Nature is Never Finished’ – Artist Robert Smithson on Cultural Confinement and Finding Real Freedom in Art
Robert Smithson’s brand of land art went against the hegemony of galleries and museums who he accused of dictating the context, meaning and value of art.
Keeping Silence of the Heart: Cultivating Attention and Sobriety According to the Philokalia
Philokalia means ‘love of the beautiful and the good’, and the writings that were added to this collection were mostly concerned with the importance of awakening and developing attention and consciousness.
La Mar, El Mar: Ernest Hemingway’s Kind, Beautiful, Cruel Ocean
Ernest Hemingway’s ‘The Old Man and the Sea’, has to be one of the most accomplished accounts of a lifetime’s intimacy with the sea.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
‘Your Job Is to Put On a Splendid Performance’: Epictetus’ Design for a Skillful and Happy Life
Epictetus’ path to freedom attends to the aspects of life that can be controlled, while meeting with equanimity the things we can do nothing about.
To Share Fear is the Greatest Bond of All: J.A. Baker’s Loving Portrait of the Peregrine
Sometimes described as England’s greatest cult book, The Peregrine is a beautiful, lyrical expression of one man’s fascination with this hunting bird that he came to know intimately on a daily basis for over a decade.
The Poem Is a Place in Which to Feel: Mary Oliver’s Tribute to Walt Whitman
In this stirring tribute to her shadow-companion and first poetic love Walt Whitman, poet Mary Oliver describes the experience of awakening to poetry as a door to the temple, a place ‘in which to feel’.
Running With Life: Alan Watts on Freedom and Poverty
Alan Watts unpacks the imperative not to hold on to things, but to adopt a kind of psychological poverty—or simplicity— in which the mind is clear and unfettered in a way that allows it the space for true spontaneity.
This is the Life: Annie Dillard Asks, Then What?
Annie Dillard celebrates humanity by taking the widest view of its activities, hopes, dreams and values. She then asks, what would we really do with this new, expanded perspective?
Alain de Botton on Why We Marry the Wrong People
Alain de Botton takes a sledgehammer to the notions of romanticism that spawn unrealistic expectations in relationships which eventually lead to disillusionment and painful parting.
Rooting Firmly Into Life – Thomas Merton on Accepting Reality as It Is
Thomas Merton underscores the danger of over-identifying with notions and abstractions rather than with the flesh and bones reality of our own lives.
Sealskin, Soulskin – A Fable About Returning to Our Wild Origins
The myth of losing a pelt speaks deeply to being divested of time, resources and creative energy in the service of psychic support of others.
Welcome to The Dewdrop! This little journal is a digest of reflective and powerful writing focused on reading, writing and being. Scroll on for poetry, essays, book excerpts and classic texts.
Jenna Wysong Filbrun – Church
Jenna Wysong Filbrun’s Church is an ode to nature, life, and belonging in a time of spiritual upheaval, an ode to the wilderness, which was humanity’s first place of worship.
On Being Plan B
BY ELIZABETH BLUE
The car that had been broken into wasn’t mine. It wasn’t his, either. Technically it belonged to his girlfriend – his primary partner of fifteen years.
Jane Hirshfield – All The Difficult Hours and Minutes
In Hirshfield’s poem, calamity turns to calmness when things turn into themselves, a principle that goes to the heart of transformative practice.
What is Meditation? Shinzen Young on How to Deepen Our Focus
Shinzen Young on the most basic principle of mindfulness meditation: the cultivation of focus that can be practiced at any moment of the day, during any activity.
Barry Casey – Wait Here
Barry Casey’s poem “Wait Here” explores the themes of finding God and healing through the wild miracles of nature.
Shangyang Fang – Chaconne
Fang’s beautiful and complex poem addresses the questions of sin and redemption against the background of a young monk entering a monastery.
The Most Beautiful Thing We Can Experience Is The Mysterious: Albert Einstein’s Living Philosophy
Albert Einstein lays out his living philosophy and the set of ideals that he held in his personal, spiritual and political life.
Owen Brown – Emerging
Owen Brown’s paintings slide between representation and abstraction as he explores everything from the snow shades of Minnesota winters to his son’s cancer treatment.
Susan Coultrap-McQuin – Seeking Stars
“Seeking Stars” by Susan Coultrap-McQuin is a meditation on growing older and inhabiting the autumnal season of our lives.
Jericho Brown – Bullet Points
Jericho Brown’s poem talks to the weight carried by black Americans who live under the constant threat of police violence and injustice.
Pandemic Snow
BY JONATHAN H. MARKS
A few years ago, when I was on an international fellowship in Geneva, some friends asked me to go to the mountains for the afternoon.
The Full Awareness of Breathing
In the Anapanasati Sutta, the Buddha presents a visceral kind of practice with the breath, that illuminates the experience of joy, calm and impermanence.
Cristina Legarda – Mary
Poet Cristina Legarda’s tender poem “Mary” is written from the viewpoint of the mother of Jesus Christ, as she looks back with a heart full of love and sadness at moments with her divine child.
Joseph Campbell On Experiencing Mystery
Joseph Campbell takes on the notion of experiencing mystery and considers how religious narratives can actually stymie the expansive human experience of transcendence.
The River Cabin
BY CAITE MCNEIL
Making the decision to move back to Maine wasn’t easy for a mother who wanted her daughter to love her home as much as she does.
Leonard Cohen – Roshi
Leonard Cohen on how the teachings of a Zen master can manifest in unexpected and obtuse ways.
You Have To Say Something: Dainin Katagiri on What To Say When There Is Nothing To Say
According to Katagiri, it can be difficult to find the words or modality to enter back into the world from a place of silence, but it is something we ultimately have to do.
Brian Yapko – My Hunger for You
With his poem My Hunger for You, Brian Yapko presents a desperate and generally unsuccessful search for God.
Astronomer Pippa Goldschmidt on Seeing Far and Seeing Up Close
Astronomer Pippa Goldschmidt on working in the starry deserts of Chile during a time when new technologies meant a more remote relationship to the act of stargazing.
Seamus Heaney – Wheels Within Wheels
This very personal and autobiographical poem of Seamus Heaney’s harks back to the objects and curiosities of his youth.