Eihei Dogen Archives - The Dewdrop

Last week we published the Jijuyu Zanmai, which is the second part of the first half of Master Dogen's Bendowa, the first text to be written in casual Japanese to explain the Zen Dogen had learned in China under Master Rujing. This text is the very first part of the Bendowa that precedes the Jijuyu… Continue reading “When you release it, it fills your hand; when you speak it fills your mouth” – Dogen’s Bendowa

Like Silt in a Flowing Stream – May Sarton on Solitude and Clutter
May Sarton's Journal of a Solitude is the upshot of a journey into herself, into simplification and self-examination.
E.E. Cummings – Let It Go—The
E.E. Cummings reflects on the necessity of clearing, of letting go of the things we cling to, in order to make way for love.
Normal Days – A Tribute to the Ordinary From the Far Edge of Life
After a glioblastoma diagnosis, Tallu Schuyler Quinn wrote about what dying meant to her body, mind and heart in this series of moving essays.
In the Name of the Stranger – Pádraig Ó Tuama on the Language of The Troubles
Poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama reflects on the use of the word 'trouble' in Irish language, and its relationship to grief and mourning.
The Most Real and Creative Form of Human Presence: John O’Donohue on Soul Friendship
Ancient Celtic tradition upheld soul-friendships and the potential for inner growth that they teased out.

Carol Barrett – Esther Talks to Her Unborn Child
Poet Carol Barrett's poem is spoken in the voice of biblical Queen Esther, from the Tanakh or Old Testament Book of Esther.
Guadalupe Salgado Partida – Nearing Heaven
Guadalupe Salgado Partida, with her poem "Nearing Heaven", tilts our eyes skyward, just as the eyes of the poem's narrator when she asks her father about God.
Laura Johnson – To the Daughter I Never Had
Iowa poet Laura Johnson's "To the Daughter I Never Had" is a heart-rending work of what could have been, of loss, absence, and missed opportunities.
Gina Ferrara – Along Its Course
New Orleans poet Gina Ferrara writes a poem of awareness, inevitability, permanence, and nature, the lines of which are gathered around the shores of a sluggish river.
Anya Smith – Mountain Messaged Erotica
Anya Smith's three-part sequence poem, "Mountain Messaged Erotica", is narrative rife with outdoorsy rustic goodness and passion.