D. H. Lawrence asks what is necessary for true change, finding his answer in the legend of the phoenix, who has to be burnt thoroughly and burnt while alive in order to regenerate herself again.
Brother David Steindl-Rast hones in on a transcendental moment of the day which in the monastic tradition is a time of reflection and healing.
The twilight excursions of swifts echo the solemnity of certain spiritual rituals, when the earth is quiet enough that we can relocate our own bearings in relation to the world.
BY PATRICK BURR
After climbing to the top of Bulamsan, a small peak in northeastern Seoul, I sat on a boulder and stared out from among the trees at the ivory city below the smog.
BY JOHN JACOBSON
A husband and wife live together with a rare neurological disease. The illness profoundly changed their love and brought about a search for meaning.
The Storms Within is a series of etchings created by Punjab-based Samia Singh during a residency in Florence.
Alexandra Horowitz asks, what does it really mean to pay attention? Is it beneficial? And how can we be better at it?
Zenkei Blanche Hartman discusses respect for the physical world, which starts with respect for ourselves, grounded in interconnectedness.
Jiddu Krishnamurti’s diaries reveal his ‘process’ and daily engagement with the the experience of his own consciousness and encounters with the unknown.
The Zazen Yojinki, written by 14th century Japanese master Keizan Jokin, covers the fundamental aspects of zazen, the form of Zen meditation.
A death poem was composed on one’s deathbed, with the aim of encapsulating the understanding of impermanence at that moment.
The Discourse on Knowing The Better Way to Catch a Snake (the Alagaddūpama Sutta) is a Buddhist teaching about not clinging to views.
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
In this short chapter from the Shobogenzo, Sho-ji, Dogen plays with the distinction between the nuances of the two different meanings, life and death being static and self-defined events, which he argues have no substance or existence, and living and dying which are an endless flow of events and dynamic being
Alan Watts delves into one of his favorite and recurring subjects – the way in which we over-identify with the parts we play.
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.
Among Alan Watts’ most compelling qualities was his fascination with different systems of faith and his
Our favorite rogue Zen philosopher, Alan Watts had a gift for contextualizing the principles of
Religion and faith are two of the most difficult subjects to write about according to Nicholas Trandahl, author of the poem, The Chapel.
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.
Author Cuong Lu is a student of Thich Nhat Hanh and has worked for many years as a prison chaplain.
Les Kaye is the Abbot of Kannon Do meditation center in Mountain View and the author of the books Joyously
Can writing with your wrong hand beat writer’s block? Are maternity leave and creativity at all compatible? Danielle Pieratti, The
Ben Connelly is a Zen teacher at the Minnesota Zen Center as well as the author of several books including
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.
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.
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.’
17th century Zen master Bankei on the Unborn, the unconditioned mind that comes up spontaneously and is fundamental to every person, without exception.
“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?
The Bhaddekaratta Sutta is one of the many teachings the Buddha gave over the course of his 19 three-month practice periods at the Jetavana Monastery. It conveys the essence of a self-sufficient practice and way of existing – not clinging to the past or living for the future but diligently dwelling in current stability and freedom.
Achaan Chaa was a Buddhist monk in the Thai Forest Tradition who taught a simple practice in nature that did not depend on reading or studying.
Adachi Chiyono (also known as Mugai Nyodai) was the daughter of a samurai warrior in the 13th century who became the first woman – and mother – to found and head a Zen monastery in Japan.
‘Selflessness is the soul of teamwork’ was former basketball coach Phil Jackson’s mantra when coaching his players in the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Jijuyu Zanmai is the second section of the first part of Dogen’s Bendowa – ‘The Endeavor of the Way’ and concerns the experience of zazen
This biographical snippet, taken from the introduction of Tenshin Reb Anderson’s book Being Upright, tells a bit of the story of how he met his
Mitsu Suzuki was the wife of Shunryu Suzuki who accompanied him when he moved to the United States from Japan in the 1960s. After her
Doubt is a key incentive of the spiritual journey, and, as per the old adage ‘Great doubt, great awakening’, it is foundational to the enquiry of Zen.
Alan Watts delves into one of his favorite and recurring subjects – the way in which we over-identify with the parts we play.
Osho on how clinging to a particular idea of love can make a marriage stale and how chasing after security can dampen the dynamic beauty of being in a constantly changing world.
This passage from a letter is the source of one of the poet Rainer Maria Rilke’s most famous quotes about the courage to face what
Huston Smith on how his intellect and love of ideas brought him into a closer relationship with God, in an activity known as jnana, the Indian form of yoga centered around knowledge.
More than a century ago, the writer, historian, sociologist and civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois wrote about the unasked question that followed him everywhere: how does it feel to be a problem?
Zadie Smith asks whether the discourse about privilege still applies in the same way when we consider the suffering of individuals.
When a human life comes into being, a unique form comes together, like a drop of water when it is separated from the wholeness of the river as it hits a rock or falls down a waterfall.
Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn suggests that evil is not something manifested by wicked people, rather it perpetuates with the conventions that we absorb from childhood.
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.
Huxley on the beatific vision of divine beauty that resides in Pure Interval and harmonious relationship, and experiencing the divine through architecture, music, sacred geometries and human relationships.
Published in 1925, The Game of Life and How to Play It was a trailblazing tome of self-help literature couched in positive thinking and affirmative actions.
Writer and botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book Braiding Sweetgrass is a call to awakening to ecological consciousness and an awareness of our interconnectedness with nature.
D. H. Lawrence asks what is necessary for true change, finding his answer in the legend of the phoenix, who has to be burnt thoroughly and burnt while alive in order to regenerate herself again.
Brother David Steindl-Rast hones in on a transcendental moment of the day which in the monastic tradition is a time of reflection and healing.
Peter Spaulding’s Déjà Vu, According to the Matrix starts with the Smiths and a scene from The Matrix, and builds up in layers of playful, random meaning and free-associative lines that run through the poem.
The twilight excursions of swifts echo the solemnity of certain spiritual rituals, when the earth is quiet enough that we can relocate our own bearings in relation to the world.
The anxieties of fatherhood and the tension of generational and racial dynamics weave through Gregory Pardlo’s vibrant and dense poem, Raisin.
BY JOHN JACOBSON
A husband and wife live together with a rare neurological disease. The illness profoundly changed their love and brought about a search for meaning.
The Zazen Yojinki, written by 14th century Japanese master Keizan Jokin, covers the fundamental aspects of zazen, the form of Zen meditation.
Janette Schafer describes her short poem, Passagio, as ‘a haiku of hope.’
Alexandra Horowitz asks, what does it really mean to pay attention? Is it beneficial? And how can we be better at it?
BY PATRICK BURR
After climbing to the top of Bulamsan, a small peak in northeastern Seoul, I sat on a boulder and stared out from among the trees at the ivory city below the smog.
The call of awakening can come in any form, even from something as simple as the voice of a blackbird, in David Whyte’s poem, The Bell and the Blackbird.
Zenkei Blanche Hartman discusses respect for the physical world, which starts with respect for ourselves, grounded in interconnectedness.
Holly Allen’s poem Michigan Green recalls the summers spent in Michigan with her great-grandmother.
Jiddu Krishnamurti’s diaries reveal his ‘process’ and daily engagement with the the experience of his own consciousness and encounters with the unknown.
BY SUSAN DI RENDE
It was the summer of 1959. I was four years old, sitting in the back of my parents’ Rambler driving down Route 60 past motels, restaurants, and gas stations.
Berry’s poem looks to nature for release from world-weariness and despair, and suggests a kind of liberation through reviving our relationship with the wilderness.
In tribute, and with gratitude to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, here is a selection of some of her finest pieces of wisdom.
Alexander’s poem Equinox is about life and energy, and how it slowly disappears, sometimes the force leaving the body still living, but an empty shell.
Doubt is a key incentive of the spiritual journey, and, as per the old adage ‘Great doubt, great awakening’, it is foundational to the enquiry of Zen.
