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Tag: Suffering

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
Featured Poetry

Samantha Imperi – To my child, on God

October 16, 2022October 13, 2022 Nicholas Trandahl

Samantha Imperi's powerful tragic poem "To my child, on God" muses God as a feminine force, forced to birth a universe she doesn't want.

Tagged birth, childbirth, God, helplessness, loss, motherhood, Poem, poet, Poetry, Suffering4 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?
  • A Year of Kō: 6th Sekki
    A Year of Kō: 6th Sekki
  • John O'Donohue - Beannacht / Blessing
    John O'Donohue - Beannacht / Blessing
  • Issa - This Dewdrop World
    Issa - This Dewdrop World
  • The Dexterous Butcher - Zhuangzi
    The Dexterous Butcher - Zhuangzi
  • Nathan Hassall - Perhaps it is Grief
    Nathan Hassall - Perhaps it is Grief
  • Philip Booth - First Lesson
    Philip Booth - First Lesson
  • What is Love? Love is a Verb - bell hooks
    What is Love? Love is a Verb - bell hooks
  • Rebecca Solnit's Blue of Distance
    Rebecca Solnit's Blue of Distance
  • Billy Collins - The Dead
    Billy Collins - The Dead

- 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-

  • A Year of Kō: 6th Sekki
    6th Sekki poems by MADISON WILLIAMS, JOSEPH PALMER and COLEMAN DAVIS
  • Deja Carr – We Held Hands in Prayers, Then I Forgot You
    Deja Carr, poet and musician, creates a altar to gratitude and mixed blessings with her "We Held Hands in Prayers, Then I Forgot You".
  • Constance Clark – Why I Stop & Stare
    Poet Constance Clark treats readers to springtime interconnectedness and abundance with her masterful "Why I Stop & Stare".
  • A Year of Kō: 5th Sekki
    5th Sekki poems by JOSEPH PALMER, SHERRY WEAVER SMITH and COLEMAN DAVIS
  • Maureen Martinez – How to Pass as a Woman of Faith
    Emerging poet Maureen Martinez slows us down for a moment with her hybrid prose poem "How to Pass as a Woman of Faith".
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