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Charlotte Joko Beck was an American Zen teacher who insisted that Zen training must directly address our conditioned reactions, and that meditative awareness was the key to understanding the emptiness of ego. She also underlined the value of bringing practice insights into daily life by living compassionately and with recognition of the interconnectedness… Continue reading Wandering in the Desert: This is our Life
For activist and writer James Baldwin, falling in love was, 'Not merely the key to my life, but to life itself.' In this excerpt he talks about falling in love, a powerful event that shaped him and how he interacted with the world.
"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?
Thich Nhat Hanh, Toni Morrison and Seung Sahn: the ten most popular posts from The Dewdrop's first year.
We marvel at our intelligence, but what we often miss is the miracle of our own existence and our interconnectedness with everything else in the Cosmos.
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.
'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. Jackson coached his players along the lines of wisdom he had gleaned from his own study of Zen Buddhism and the Lakota Sioux, emphasizing group consciousness and non-ego.
There is nothing necessarily natural or inevitable, argues Gary Snyder, about repression, violence and frustrated personalities, and the more we are able to practice and connect with our deeper natures, the more apparent this becomes. Snyder's vision for a more enlightened society stems from his conviction that the 'joyous and voluntary poverty of Buddhism' is… Continue reading “The Hawk, the Swoop, and the Hare are One” – Gary Snyder on Radical Social Change
In 1961, Ram Dass famously collaborated with Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, Aldous Huxley, and Allen Ginsberg, to carry out pioneering research on research psilocybin, LSD-25, and other psychedelic chemicals. This experience led Ram Dass, who was then an academic called Dr Richard Alpert, into a lifelong inquiry into the human condition and its mysterious psyche.… Continue reading ‘The Only Thing You Have to Fear is Fear’ – Ram Dass on the Anxiety of Extinction
In March 2013, comedian and Podcast host Duncan Trussell broadcast one of the most touching episodes of his show, a conversation with his mother, Deneen Fendig, who was close to death after a long battle with cancer. Fendig, clearly an influence on Trussell's rambunctiously curious outlook on life, is lucid and uplifting as she talks… Continue reading “I’m Finding Out that Who and What I am is Vastness Itself” – Deneen Fendig and Duncan Trussell Talk About Active Dying