On this Good Friday March 29, 2013, I offer these excerpts from a dharma talk given by Thich Nhat Hanh on December 24, 1997 in Plum Village, France. Jesus and Buddha as Brothers “There was a film maker who lives in Sweden who wanted to come and ask me this question: “If Jesus and Buddha met today what […]
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Does a Buddha say to himself “I have obtained Perfect Enlightenment?”
2011/09/04 
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Buddha then asked, “What do you think, Subhuti, does one who has entered the stream which flows to Enlightenment, say ‘I have entered the stream’?” “No, Buddha,” Subhuti replied. “A true disciple entering the stream would not think of themselves as a separate person that could be entering anything. Only that disciple who does not […]
Continue reading A. H. Almass on Sinking Your Boats and becoming the Universal Heretic
2011/08/22 3 Comments
As readers of this blog know, from time to time I like to share insights from spiritual paths other than Buddhism—inspiring poetry of Rumi, Kabir, and Mary Oliver: Rumi Poem-“Quietness” and “No Longer Mourn for Me” (music) Kabir-“I Said to the Wanting-creature Inside Me” (music) “The Journey”-A Poem for the New Year by Mary Oliver […]
Continue reading Whose Silence Are You? Thomas Merton Poem and Music
2011/06/14 5 Comments
Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk who was well-known as a social activist, writer, and poet. An deep student of comparative religion, Merton was a keen proponent of interfaith dialog. He became close friends with prominent Eastern spiritual teachers, such as the Dalai Lama, D.T. Suzuki, and my own heart teacher, Vietnamese Zen Master Thich […]
Continue reading Sacred Scriptures and Gurus Are Not the Final Authority
2011/06/12 4 Comments
Anyone who grew up in a fundamentalist or doctrinaire religious environment can tell you how hard it is to to think for oneself and choose one’s own spiritual path. In a child’s mind, the authority of one’s parents becomes totally merged with the authority of her religious teachings and teachers. Because a child is totally […]
Continue reading Did you know that the Buddha almost didn’t teach the Dharma?
2011/05/05 4 Comments
According to the Pali canon, not long after the Buddha attained enlightenment, he mused to himself: “This Dhamma that I have realized is profound, hard to see and hard to understand, peaceful and sublime, unattainable by mere reasoning, subtle, to be experienced only by the wise.” The Buddha then apparently seriously questioned whether he could […]
Continue reading The Dhamma Brothers-A Film to Inspire Your Meditation Practice
2011/01/16 3 Comments
Last night my wife and I watched on of the most moving documentaries we have seen in a long time. It’s called The Dhamma Brothers, and I can’t recommend it enough. Brief Synopsis (from website) An overcrowded, violent maximum-security prison, the end of the line in Alabama’s prison system, is dramatically changed by the influence […]
Continue reading A Buddhist Meditation on the “Emptiness” of Christmas
2010/12/24 3 Comments
Although my wife and I don’t formally celebrate Christmas in terms of traditional Christian beliefs, we both love this season and the many good associations we have with this time of the year. Some of this is carry-over, no doubt, from our Christian upbringing, but looking past the outward forms of celebration, I think there’s […]
Continue reading A Buddhist Mantra based on the Prayer of St. Francis
2010/07/14 19 Comments
Here is a mantra I often work with during the day. It’s an adaptation I made of the much-loved Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. (St. Francis is my favorite Christian saint, among other things, because of his love of animals, and especially birds! See: The Compassion of the Swans) In Buddhism, working with a […]
Continue readingEngaged Buddhism-How to Help with the Gulf Oil Disaster
2010/06/01 4 Comments
One of the things that attracted me to Thich Nhat Hanh was his embodiment of what he called “engaged Buddhism.” While Buddhist monastic life and retreats have their crucial place, our day-to-day actions and their kamma are what show whether we are developing sila—the moral and ethical awakening this is every bit as important as […]
Continue readingThich Nhat Hanh on Buddhism, Mindfulness, and the Holy Spirit
2010/05/21 15 Comments
“We can touch the living Buddha. We can also touch the living Christ. When we see someone overflowing with love and understanding, someone who is keenly aware of what is going on, we know that we are very close to the Buddha and to Jesus Christ.” Thich Nhat Hanh One of the things I love […]
Continue reading Spiritual Practice and Learning to Surrender (w/music)
2010/04/28 5 Comments
Here are some insights on surrender from various spiritual teachers, paths, and poets that I have found comforting and inspiring. At the end, I share a moving instrumental piece by pianist Solomon Keal from his beautiful album Peace of Heaven. Some of us have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, before we let go, and […]
Continue reading Thich Nhat Hanh-No Death, No Fear (audio)
2010/04/22 8 Comments
“Our greatest fear is that when we die we will become nothing. We believe we are born from nothing and that when we die we become nothing. And so we are filled with fear of annihilation. The Buddha has a very different understanding, that birth and death are notions. They are not real.” ~ Thich […]
Continue reading Beat Zen? Square Zen? or just Zen?
2010/03/25 8 Comments
In the history of the introduction of Buddhism, and especially of Zen, to the West, one name that stands out is Alan Watts. Few people did more to popularize and explain Eastern philosophy than Watts. Long before I had a serious interest in Buddhism, I remember reading and being intrigued by his popular The Way […]
Continue readingTricycle Magazine – The Hour of the Wolf – Clark Strand
2010/03/08 2 Comments
I subscribe to the Tricyle Magazine’s daily mailing, and today’s mailing and video were so good, I wanted to refer folks to it: The Hour of the Wolf The hours of Green Meditation are sometimes referred to as “the hour of the wolf,” because this is the time when anxieties, health or financial worries, and […]
Continue reading If You Dislike Christianity, You’ll Hate Buddhism!
2010/02/03 2 Comments
Although I didn’t plan it, an emerging theme of posts this week seems to be the skillfulness of challenging of orthodoxy and mere conceptual thinking. Whether we agree or disagree with them, iconoclast teachers make us think—or maybe in the case of these two teachers, not so much think, as pay attention and wake up! […]
Continue readingA Wonderful Gift from Carrie Newcomer-a Namaste Meditation
2010/02/02 3 Comments
If you are a follower of this blog, you know what a fan I am of singer/songwriter Carrie Newcomer: I have featured a number of her songs in my “metta music” posts: Metta music-This Too Will Pass Metta music-When One Door Closes Metta Music-Love Calls and Waits for an Answer-Be True! As these posts say, […]
Continue reading Metta Music-Love Calls and Waits for an Answer-Be True!
2010/02/02 2 Comments
This is another in the series of “dharma songs” I’ve been posting from time to time. These are songs that have comforted, inspired, helped, and healed me over the years. I invite you have a listen to the song, which is at the end of the lyrics. The lyrics tell only part the story; the […]
Continue reading How Does an Atheist Come to Believe in God?
2010/01/29 5 Comments
This post’s title might seem an unusual one for a blog oriented toward Buddhism, but being a “lamp unto myself,” I celebrate light and love wherever they appear, and there’s a lot of both in this interview with philosopher Jacob Needleman. The article I’m referring you to comes from Religion Dispatches, one of my very […]
Continue reading Buddhism’s Practical Answer to the Problem of Evil-Part 2
2010/01/21 3 Comments
In my previous post, Buddhism’s Practical Answer to the Problem of Evil – Part 1, I focused on how the Buddha’s focus on answering this problem was not philosophical or metaphysical, but practical and existential. Indeed, philosophical and metaphysical beliefs can utterly sidetrack us from seeing the truth of things for ourselves. I also posted […]
Continue readingMay All Beings Be Happy
- Looking at the Ninth Zen Precept-I Do Not Indulge In Anger
- True God, True Buddha
- The Difference Between Compassion and “Idiot Compassion”
- Ajahn Brahmavamso teaches Loving-kindness Meditation
- Now-and-Zen-Are you still carrying her?
- A Buddhist Mantra based on the Prayer of St. Francis
- Mindfulness of Breathing-The Anapanasati Sutta
- Buddhist Forgiveness-When We Have Hurt Another-Part 3
- Practicing the Middle Way-not too much, not too little
- Healing the Body with Mindfulness of Breathing
- Look at the Three Characteristics in Terms of Actions
- Thich Nhat Hanh – Healing Through Resting in the Breath
- How Metta Can Help You When Meditation is Hindered by Overwhelming Feelings
- The Importance of Taking the “Should” out of Spiritual Practice
- Can We “Choose” to Be Happy? No—and Yes!
- Ken Mcleod on how to use Thich Nhat Hanh’s Five-Step Method of Emotional Releasing
- Non-resistance and the Art of Resisting without Resisting!
- Don’t be fooled! There is a Way and We Can Walk It!
- The Importance of Compassion in Assessing Our Dharma Progress
- Jesus and the Buddha on Good Friday
Metta Refuge 