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 know what to expect in these hard economic times. In fact, the truth is we never know what to expect [...]
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 is the altar, all beings are buddhas and hungry ghosts and they all belong to our sangha, the dharma is [...]
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, enter the realm of a language other than the two I usually speak. And yet... Amid all our differences, we'll [...]
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, too, falling upon us quietly. All without fanfare. In the Métro full of commuters the other morning a man was [...]
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 about his/her current work. I was tagged to join the project by Pansy Mauer-Alvarez, who was tagged by Dylan Harris [...]
I'm not a Catholic, nor a Christian for that matter, nor an ardent follower of the Vatican. Among my favorite "pope" moments recently was the terrific Nanni Moretti film "Habeus Papum" starring Michel Piccoli as the man-who-wouldn't-be-pope. I couldn't help but chuckle while thinking of that delightful film's impeccable staging of the conclave, vote, white [...]
Something came up yesterday that I just knew was the next entry here. Involved with some other preoccupation at the time, I had no choice but to put off the noting of that brilliant moment. And now as I sit before the screen to finally make record of it, whatever "it" was has escaped me. [...]
During a pause while the dentist was doing work in my mouth today, he was telling me something (I can't now recall what). I asked him why he was telling me this. He replied, to my surprise, "Je meuble le silence." (I'm filling the silence.) So much in the news, in the movies, on television, [...]
As I consider where I am at this moment (in light of where I have been since setting out on this Zen path 20 years ago), I came upon this beautiful account from the historic Buddha: This Dharma I have reached is deep, hard to see, difficult to awaken to, quiet and excellent, not confined [...]
A quick note since it's been awhile: For me, one of the finest moments (among many!) of the past week was when Barack Obama, after taking his official oath of office for his second term as president of the United States, after all the typical American show business was over, made his way up through [...]