Book Bits
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.
May 7, 2021
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.
Why I Write – Caroline Goodwin
Writing can be anything, from self-discovery to incorporating pain to establishing direction, according to poet Caroline Goodwin, who featured in The Dewdrop a couple of weeks ago with her poem, Not I’ll Not, from her book, Custody of the Eyes.
Why I Write – Cuong Lu
Author Cuong Lu is a student of Thich Nhat Hanh and has worked for many years as a prison chaplain.
Why I Write – Les Kaye
Les Kaye is the Abbot of Kannon Do meditation center in Mountain View and the author of the books Joyously
THE BEATS
BROWSE BY THEME
Shiva Author Q&A Travel truth everyday Buddha Violence Gary Snyder Tibetan buddhism Buddhism Light Kindness language transcendence Unity Christianity Courage Spirituality Relationships Self Dying Mind transition prayer peace friendship Death Sadness Poem Advice humanity Beat forest Darkness Solitude Emptiness memory desire Blue Belief Zen Flesh Zen Bones Kodo Sawaki reflection Awakening The dewdrop God Experience Trees Writing music healing Loneliness Devi imminent experience liberation home moment snow Wisdom Anxiety wonder love Koan Poetry Practice Thich Nhat Hanh learning meaning nothingness Vigyan Bhairava Compassion life grief Chan motherhood anger presence American Poetry Fear ritual pain China Dogen Freedom 2020 Rinzai listening transience Zen Alan Watts loss change Centreing Spiritual Practice beauty Reality Enlightenment impermanence Gratitude birds Chinese Poem hope philosophy art zazen Meditation consciousness Children Suffering Stillness community race time faith Silence Mumonkan memoir renunciation knowledge childhood Shobogenzo Dreams dharma Shunryu Suzuki Jack Kerouac salvation Literature COVID-19 perception poet religion Japan marriage Taoism conversation Teacher Happiness ecology separation attention being awareness Chinese Zen transformation Water Inspiration existence Sutra Thomas Merton nature
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
FROM THE ZEN GARDEN
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.
Eihei Dogen – Death Poem
A death poem was composed on one’s deathbed, with the aim of encapsulating the understanding of impermanence at that moment.
Bradley Samore – There Was Never a Door
There Never Was a Door was composed at Hokyoji, a Zen Practice Community in Minnesota. The passage to the abandoned shed without a door echoes
The Path That Leads Into the Mountains
In 1993, Zen teacher Joan Halifax published a book called The Fruitful Darkness based on her anthropological engagements with Tibetan Buddhists, Mexican shamans, Native American elders and other tribal communities.
The Guidepost of Silent Illumination
Hongzhi Zhengjue was a 12th century philosopher and Zen master in China who authored a large number of philosophical texts as well as the seminal
Ryokan – Playing with the Children
Ryokan loved children, and played with them so much that other adults began to question his sanity. He says, ‘Even if I were able to say something/how could I explain?’ His wholehearted immersion in playful activity is the essence of Ryokan’s very particular Zen expression.
Expressing Yourself the Way That You Are – Shunryu Suzuki on Communication
Shunryu Suzuki always admitted his own difficulty with the English language, but also addressed the deeper problem of human communication, namely that ‘when we say something, our subjective intention or situation is always involved.’
Bankei and the Unborn
17th century Zen master Bankei on the Unborn, the unconditioned mind that comes up spontaneously and is fundamental to every person, without exception.
Am I Conscious Now?
“What does it mean to ask a question? Is there some magic in the inquisitive brain?” Susan Blackmore’s lifelong investigation into consciousness encompasses Zen practice and the recurring question: Am I conscious now?
