janvier 2014
Yes in hazy moonlight
There was a hazy moon in the dark sky tonight. I noticed it earlier this evening when I was returning home after a day at work. And I saw it last night, too. But each [...]
Keep touching the ground
Back at work and other activities this week after the traditional holiday "break.'' Seems a bit strange, like I've been away for a long while, and strangely just the same, as if I've never left. [...]
Completion and renewal
As 2013 has come to a close and we enter 2014, it's a great moment to remind ourselves where we have been and also to look clearly at where we are: at both an end [...]
novembre 2013
After Thanksgiving
Fog started rolling in last night, hovering along our street as my son and I returned late from a Thanksgiving feast. He noted the odd brilliance it cast, affording a seemingly incongruous clarity to the [...]
Retreat calendar spring-summer 2014
2014 (spring and summer) multi-day retreats with the Wild Flower Zen Sangha and Sensei Amy Hollowell: April 17-21, Portugal (with special guest Roshi Catherine Genno Pagès) May 9-16, Belgium (co-led with Sensei Frank de Waele [...]
Perfect zero
Today, wars all around and other natural disasters, the "economy" in tatters, hunger, disease, plastic surgery rampant. And in my weekly agenda, dotted with quotes from artists through the ages, there is this: "Il réalisait [...]
Lou Reed’s wide-awake death
It's been a couple of weeks since I learned of Lou Reed's death, the day after he died, as I returned to Paris after retreat in Portugal. And only now did I finally find what [...]
The Hidden Lamp. Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women
Finally yesterday the book I've been awaiting for months and months arrived. When the postman knocked and rang at my door, I was sure he had what I wanted: "The Hidden Lamp. Stories from Twenty-Five [...]
octobre 2013
Rainbow
Back in Montreuil today. Lazing in the late afternoon with Proust. I look up from the book for a moment, out the window, and there, a magnificent rainbow curves across the cloudy sky like a [...]
Retreat notes: Brilliant sun and fly buzz in Coimbra
Here I am on retreat in Portugal, amid ribbons of highways, under brilliant sun overlooking Coimbra. Great sitting all day altogether. Someone said this morning he was happy to be here and thanked me for [...]
A coffee break with nothing and everything
Without giving much thought to my intention, I left this blog in suspension for awhile. Then I picked it up again. Did it stop? Did it start? Before this item was posted, what was there? [...]
Back and running the course
Having never left, I'm back again... The itinerary, as Roshi Joan Halifax said recently as a tip to travelers, is always subject to reality. Myself, I let the summer run its course, with many twists [...]
juin 2013
Bloomsday, again and again
Celebrate another (happy) Bloomsday! (tomorrow, June 16) Celebrate your life, the whole and all the parts! We'll be sitting together in Paris, and there's room for you to join wherever you are. “If Socrates leave [...]
Teachings of a whole lifetime
A monk asked Yun Men: "What are the teachings of a whole lifetime?" Yun Men replied: "An appropriate response." Not really anything else to add... Yet there remains the question: What is the "appropriate response"?
mai 2013
Nathaniel Dorsky, « Three Times Silence »
“There is the world that we see, and then there is the world that artists like Mr. Dorsky see and generously share.” — Manohla Dargis, The New York Times Save the date: The experimental San [...]
Nothing like a bad back to get the mind moving
Late afternoon, it’s pouring rain on the worker’s holiday. Haven’t heard whether the usual union marches went forth or if sales of the traditional (here in France, anyway) lilies of the valley were stable. Never [...]
avril 2013
What is a retreat? and other questions
What is a retreat? Retreats are precious opportunities for members of the sangha to come together and share practice. In the Wild Flower Sangha, that practice is radical: The universe is our zendo, the earth [...]
mars 2013
Right where you are
Preparing for a new voyage today: I'll be heading in a few hours for retreat near Lisbon. I'll cross national borders and time zones, shift from one set of cultural habits and ways to another, [...]
One small effort (without fanfare)
Since my last post here... ...life... and spring without fanfare. And meanwhile: Whatever snow there was is now long gone. And the sun is as loyal as ever, behind or before the clouds. And night, [...]
The Next Big Thing: »Here We Are »
Here's my self-interview for the ongoing Next Big Thing project connecting us all and reflecting each of us and our work, gem-to-gem, around the net. Each writer/artist gets the same set of questions to answer [...]
Alexis says:
Alexis says:
Alexis says: