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Tag: Suffering

Featured Poetry

Jonathan Jones – man in the rain

August 16, 2026August 14, 2026 Nicholas Trandahl

It's not without harshness and brutal honesty that poet Jonathan Jones lays out all the discomforts of reality in his poem "man in the rain".

Tagged atheism, chaos, faith, God, illusion, nihilism, Poem, poet, Poetry, Reality, Suffering, truthLeave a comment
Essays

The Merlin (Surprised by Joy)

April 2, 2026April 2, 2026 Vanessa Able

An injured merlin opens the door to the way in which grief and joy are so bewilderingly intertwined in our hearts. BY DEREK FURR

Tagged Buddhism, change, Death, dukkha, giref, impermanence, Joy, keats, loss, love, partnership, relationship, sorrow, Suffering, surpriseLeave a comment
All About Love

Not Done

February 6, 2026February 9, 2026 Vanessa Able

The hardest battles of cancer often give rise to the most resilience, wisdom and love. BY NOAH LANE BROWNE

Tagged breast cancer, cancer, Care, chemo, grief, illness, love, radiation, Resilience, Suffering, support, survival, treatment, Wisdom2 Comments
Robert Haas
Poetry

Robert Hass – Faint Music

April 29, 2025April 30, 2025 The Dewdrop

The possibility of a melodious tenderness found within deeper, softer levels of our individual grasping, struggling, imperfect humanity. 

Tagged Freedom, grace, grasping, humanity, melody, music, pain, Suffering, tendernessLeave a comment
Joy Sullivan
Poetry

Joy Sullivan – Sister

February 26, 2025February 25, 2025 Sam Shapiro

Joy Sullivan's poem on the lived sense of healing while being held in another person's deep, loving attention.

Tagged Care, Compassion, empathy, friendship, Heartache, Kindness, listening, love, Poem, Poetry, sharing, sorrow, Suffering, support2 Comments
John Tarrant
Book Bits

“Everything Alive Has its Own Truth” John Tarrant’s Retelling of the Story of the Buddha

December 15, 2024December 15, 2024 Vanessa Able

One unique aspect of the Buddha's story is that he worked so hard to overcome the happy ending - the easy life and palatial riches.

Tagged Awakening, biography, Book, Buddha, Buddhism, childhood, Death, impermanence, old age, sickness, story, SufferingLeave a comment
Featured Poetry

Jovan Virag – Torii Gates

July 14, 2024July 12, 2024 Nicholas Trandahl

California poet Jovan Virag serves readers as a guide up to a mountaintop Shinto shrine in Japan with her poem "Torri Gates".

Tagged climb, Japan, pilgrimage, pilgrims, Poem, poet, Poetry, Shinto, shrine, Stillness, Suffering, ZenLeave a comment
Always Halfway
All About Love

We Are Always Halfway

December 20, 2023December 20, 2023 Vanessa Able

BY DICK VERSTEGEN Being halfway is not discouraging, but liberating. It is the resting place of constant alertness.

Tagged attention, Bodhisattva, buddha nature, delusion, dharma, halfway, illusion, liberation, ocean, refuge, SufferingLeave a comment
All About Love

Songbird Birdsong

August 7, 2023August 7, 2023 Vanessa Able

BY PAMELA AYO YETUNDE - A retelling of the Buddhist legend of Kisa Gotami, bereaved mother Keisha comes to a Buddhist Monastery for guidance.

Tagged bereavement, Compassion, Death, fiction, grief, loss, motherhood, parenthood, short story, Suffering, WisdomLeave a comment
Featured Poetry

David Anthony Martin – The After

November 6, 2022November 3, 2022 Nicholas Trandahl

Colorado poet and outdoorsman David Anthony Martin reminds us of the inevitability of life and tomorrows with his poem "The After".

Tagged amends, daily life, future, growth, healing, life, Poem, poet, Poetry, Suffering, Wisdom2 Comments

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Older posts

TOP POSTS

  • This is the Life: Annie Dillard Asks, Then What?
    This is the Life: Annie Dillard Asks, Then What?
  • John O'Donohue - Beannacht / Blessing
    John O'Donohue - Beannacht / Blessing
  • Mary Oliver - Teach the Children
    Mary Oliver - Teach the Children
  • Wendell Berry - Do Not Be Ashamed
    Wendell Berry - Do Not Be Ashamed
  • Phach Huynh - Traces
    Phach Huynh - Traces
  • Wislawa Szymborska - Conversation with a Stone
    Wislawa Szymborska - Conversation with a Stone
  • Rebecca Elson - Antidotes to Fear of Death
    Rebecca Elson - Antidotes to Fear of Death
  • Wendell Berry - To Know The Dark
    Wendell Berry - To Know The Dark
  • The Dexterous Butcher - Zhuangzi
    The Dexterous Butcher - Zhuangzi
  • Mary Oliver - When Death Comes
    Mary Oliver - When Death Comes

- BOOK BITS -

  • Rick Ruben
    “Expanding the Universe” – Rick Rubin on Awareness in Creativity
    What is the role of awareness in creativity and how can we cultivate it to make our world a bigger and clearer place?
  • Thich Nhat Hanh
    The First Door of Liberation: Thich Nhat Hanh’s Vision of Emptiness and Interbeing
    Rather than signifying a lack or a void, Thich Nhat Hanh took emptiness to be a state of inextricable and fundamental interconnectedness.
  • Mike Travisano – Bob’s Tattoos
    A short story on the power of three simple words and how much they can mean and embody.
  • Shunryu Suzuki
    Sharing the Feeling: Zen Teacher Shunryu Suzuki on Becoming Ourselves
    The importance of keeping an empty mind for savoring the present and expressing ourselves in our most authentic way.
  • Ray Bradbury
    Running After Loves – Ray Bradbury on Fostering Hunger in Writing
    Finding the truth of our authentic passions is the key to forming the foundations of a writing practice


- POETRY-

  • Riley Danvers – [Soma]tic
    Oregon poet Riley Danvers reveals what it means to be human in a painful state of flux in her avant-garde [Soma]tic.
  • Phach Huynh – Traces
    Ho Chi Minh City poet Phach Huynh reveals all the stories and presences which are held in the lonely silences with his masterful "Traces".
  • A Year of Kō: 14th Sekki
    14th Sekki poems by MADISON WILLIAMS, SHAOMEI YU and ELLIOT DIAMOND
  • Halina Goldstein – How to Play the Gong
    Spiritual teacher and poet Halina Goldstein unfolds a rhythm of vibrancy, glory, and emptiness with her poem "How to Play the Gong".
  • A Year of Kō: 13th Sekki
    13th Sekki poems by BENJAMIN TANNER LLOYD, SHAOMEI YU and ELLIOT DIAMOND
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