This beautiful sutta from the Pali canon tells the story of what happened after the beloved disciple and arahat Sariputta passed away. Sariputta—(Sāriputta (Pāli) or Śāriputra (Sanskrit)—was a truly remarkable student of the Buddha’s, and along with Ananda, was considered his greatest pupil. As Nyanaponika Thera writes of him in The Life of Shariputra: “Shariputra..was […]
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How Facing Pain Helps to End Suffering
2011/11/09 
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The Joy Hidden in Sorrow Reflections by Ajahn Medhanandi “When Marpa, the great Tibetan meditation master and teacher of Milarepa, lost his son he wept bitterly. One of his pupils came up to him and asked: ‘Master, why are you weeping? You teach us that death is an illusion.’And Marpa said: ‘Death is an illusion. […]
Continue reading Music and Poetry in Remembrance of the September 11th Attacks
2011/09/10 4 Comments
On this day before the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, I want to share what I think is one of the most moving songs I’ve ever heard about this terrible event that broke our hearts and for a time united people all over the world in our common humanity. The song is called […]
Continue reading Coming to Terms with the Father Who Lives Within You
2011/06/05 0 Comments
Although this blog has mainly focused on the Budddhdharma, the teachings of the Buddha, it’s never been limited to that. Over time, I’ve shared skillful spiritual teachings, poems, and even music, that reflect humanity’s quest to come into a complete humanhood. I also strongly feel that the best in Western psychology powerfully complements the wisdom […]
Continue reading Everyone is Just Trying to Get Born Before They Die
2011/03/14 2 Comments
In the past year I have my life has been greatly blessed by getting to know the inspired, skillful teachings of Stephen Levine. I highly recommend his A Gradual Awakening, Healing into Life and Death, and Who Dies?—An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying, the latter two being extremely helpful and skillful treatments of […]
Continue reading New Year Message from Thich Nhat Hanh on Suffering
2011/01/01 5 Comments
“The New Year is a great opportunity to begin anew. Because many people look at the new year, the year to come, with hope. “I will do better next year,” you promise yourself…Of course we have made mistakes. Of course we have been not very skillful. Of course we have made ourselves suffer. Of course […]
Continue reading The Marriage of the Princess and the Dragon-A Dharma Story
2010/12/30 4 Comments
I’ve been thinking about “dragons” recently and thought I’d share this wonderful retelling of a Swedish fairy tale by dharma teacher Jack Kornfield from his wonderful bookAfter the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path. We all have our own “dragons” in our hearts. May this simple tale help us […]
Continue reading Song and Message for those Alone or Bereft on Thanksgiving
2010/11/24 6 Comments
As I do every year, I offer this song, “By Way of Sorrow,” to all those who may be alone this Thanksgiving, without family and friends—or maybe even without hope. Please don’t give up! There is a way “home.” The first step may be hope and trust in our own innate capacity to change, to […]
Continue reading Veterans Day-The Wounds of Combat Can Be Healed
2010/11/11 1 Comment
As an ex-GI, I often find my heart and loving-kindness practice embracing our enlisted men and women throughout the world, and especially those in war zones. War is hell. That’s no cliché, and only those who have been in combat can truly testify to what that phrase means. That’s why around Veterans Day I highlighted the […]
Continue reading Thich Nhat Hanh-Can We Understand the Suffering of our Enemy?
2010/08/06 6 Comments
Few people in the world have worked as tirelessly for the cause of peace, individual and collective, as Thich Nhat Hanh. His effort to bring peace—to be peace—began during his days as a young Buddhist monk during the Vietnam War and led Martin Luther King Jr. to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize in […]
Continue readingIf We Could Poll the Dead Iraqis-Poem, Music, and Interview with Thich Nhat Hanh
2010/06/17 2 Comments
I wrote this poem this week after listening to an American soldier talk about his deep regret over his part in the Iraqi war and his sorrow over his role in the destruction and loss of so many lives. After the poem, please have a listen to John Gorka’s powerful song, “The Road of Good […]
Continue readingMemorial Day 2010-Poem and Song for Young Men Who Died
2010/05/31 0 Comments
Here Dead We Lie A. E. Housman Here dead we lie Because we did not choose To live and shame the land From which we sprung. Life, to be sure, Is nothing much to lose, But young men think it is, And we were young. Click here to hear “Let Them In” by John Gorka: […]
Continue reading A Poem about the “severe gift” of Grief
2010/05/31 4 Comments
I’ve been reading a lot of the poetry of Wendell Berry lately, and this excerpt from his poem “Rising” came to mind this morning as I thought of all those we have lost through war and other tragedies. Although the poem speaks of the burdens we carry in our hearts over loved ones lost, it […]
Continue reading The Buddha’s Last Instruction-Poetry and Music
2010/05/24 14 Comments
“Be ye lamps unto yourselves, be a refuge to yourselves. Hold fast to truth as a lamp; hold fast to the truth as a refuge. Look not for a refuge in anyone beside yourselves. And those, who shall be a lamp unto themselves, shall betake themselves to no external refuge, but holding fast to the […]
Continue reading There’s More to Dying Than Death-A Buddhist Perspective
2010/04/23 5 Comments
“It is understandable that those who do not believe there is any reality deeper than this life, and the death that ends it, do not want to dwell on the fact of death. But if you suspect there is a way to awaken to a deeper, timeless reality that lies beyond birth and death, there […]
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 We Are All on Fire-But There’s a Way to Put Out the Flames
2010/03/17 0 Comments
The Buddha’s insight into the human condition is both immensely hopeful and immensely sobering. Hopeful, because he sees the potential of every human being to be set free by skillful means that can liberate one from all suffering and bring true freedom and happiness. And sobering, because as a good doctor, the compassionate Buddha understood […]
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 readingIs the Buddhist Path at Odds with Our Humanity?
2010/02/19 3 Comments
The Roots of Suffering in Biology and Human Nature What could be more natural than to desire pleasure and avoid pain in our life? We all desire what is pleasurable, and we all seek to avoid what is not. That’s just human nature, right? Well, it’s more than just human nature; it’s our biological nature. […]
Continue reading Groundhog Day and the serious problem of impermanence
2010/01/31 5 Comments
One of the most basic teachings of the Buddha, so far as I understand it, is that all conditioned things, all contingent things, all fabricated things, all things that arise, and thus all things that pass away, are inherently impermanent, and thus are intrinsically dukkha—suffering and unsatisfactoriness. Further, the Buddha, or Buddhism, teaches that our […]
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
- Healing the Body with Mindfulness of Breathing
- Practicing the Middle Way-not too much, not too little
- 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 