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
Archive | religion RSS feed for this section
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 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 How long will it take to bring our Narcissus off the cross?
2011/03/14 0 Comments
As I promised in my previous post, I am going to share passages from Stephen Levine’s spiritual autobiography, Turning Toward the Mystery. See: Everyone is Just Trying to Get Born Before They Die I found these passages very helpful in understanding how we identify with our pain and suffering and how letting go liberates our hearts. […]
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 Kahlil Gibran-A Tear and a Smile
2010/10/19 1 Comment
A Tear and a Smile By Khalil Gibran I would not exchange the sorrows of my heart For the joys of the multitude. And I would not have the tears that sadness makes To flow from my every part turn into laughter. I would that my life remain a tear and a smile. A tear […]
Continue reading Yes, God is Gay-and Straight, and Black, White, and a Flower!
2010/10/18 3 Comments
The spate of suicides and deaths of gay and lesbian young people reported in the news recently has broken my heart and the hearts of many. But these tragic stories are but the tip of the iceberg: In in “Death of California youth puts focus on rise in antigay bullying,” the Christian Science Monitor wrote: […]
Continue reading Poem-Mary Oliver-The Hermit Crab
2010/07/16 1 Comment
The Hermit Crab Mary Oliver Once I looked inside … the darkness ……of a shell folded like a pastry ………and there was a fancy face— or almost a face— …it turned away ……and frisked up its brawny forearms ………so quickly against the light …and my looking in ……I scarcely had time to see it, ………gleaming […]
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 reading “I Thank You” – e.e. cummings – Poem and Music
2010/06/09 7 Comments
This my favorite e.e. cummings poem. Though it’s been a friend for over 40 years now, it still makes my heart soar, “which is natural which is infinite which is yes!” (If you are curious as to why a “Buddhst” blog would have posts with references to God in them, you might want to take […]
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 Kabir-“The Time Before Death”-Poem and Music
2010/05/27 4 Comments
Although my path is not the path of theism, I have greatest respect for those who follow this path with love, integrity, and compassion. My own teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, has always sought an ecumenical approach with various spiritual traditions: See: Thich Nhat Hanh on Buddhism, Mindfulness, and the Holy Spirit Buddha and Christ—Let the […]
Continue readingThich Nhat Hanh on Buddhism, Mindfulness, and the Holy Spirit
2010/05/21 16 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 The Sufi Mystic and the Punjabi Rock Musician (audio)
2010/05/06 1 Comment
From time to time, I like to share insights from other traditions to broaden the scope of Metta Refuge. I am quite fond of the Sufi mystics and poets, such as Rumi: Rumi—Learn the Alchemy True Human Beings Know Taking Care of Our Heart Donkey This Being Human is a Guest House Today, I want […]
Continue readingThe Mind like Fire Unbound-the Fire Metaphor for Nirvana
2010/04/28 0 Comments
In an earlier post, The Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta-the Buddha on the Nature of Existence and Nirvana, the Buddha explains how nirvana is like the extinction of a flame. The ascetic wanderer Vacchagotta can’t understand what happens after death to one who attains nirvana, or complete Unbinding. Does he still exist? Does he not exist? Does he […]
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 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 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 