Maya’s Conversion An Excerpt from Stars at Dawn We return to the Buddha’s biography as he, too, has reached the end of his life. For forty-five years he roamed northeast India, teaching his disciples and converting an ever-growing number of women and men to the new Buddhist faith. At the core of his ministry’s purpose [...]

A Remembrance of Yvonne RandYvonne Rand, a leading teacher and figure in Zen Buddhism in the US, passed away on August 19, 2020. While not the author of any books, her writing appears in several books including: A White Tea Bowl: 100 Haiku from 100 Years of Life which includes a piece by Yvonne about Shunryu [...]

An Essay by Joanna Macy From A Wild Love for the World In early 1985, I was offering workshops across Australia to activists resisting nuclear testing, uranium mining, and the logging of their last old-growth forests. They found that the Despair and Empowerment work freed them from burnout and kindled their love for one another. [...]

Excerpt from Four Men Shaking: Searching for Sanity with Samuel Beckett, Norman Mailer, and My Perfect Zen Teacher I go to sleep early but wake in a panic, realizing at once that Roshi’s talk is simmering in my mind. No label—not “anxiety,” not “terror,” not even “panic”—seems right for my condition until it occurs to [...]

An excerpt from Tibetan Astrology, where Phillipe Cornu summarizes Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche's explanation of each month's 10th day, or Guru Rinpoche Day. The 10th is Guru Rinpoche day. Guru Rinpoche or Padmasambhava is the Buddha who established Tantric Buddhism in Tibet. At the esoteric level, he is the essence of all buddhas and masters. He [...]

Special Practice Days in the Tibetan Calendar What follows is an excerpt by Kunkyen Tenpe Nyima from Vajra Wisdom: Deity Practice in Tibetan Buddhism on the special practice days of the month as well as the monthly special days.  It is followed by an excert from Tibetan Astrology on the specific days of each month. [...]

Natural Warmth An excerpt from Taking the Leap Before we can know what natural warmth really is, often we must experience loss. We go along for years moving through our days, propelled by habit, taking life pretty much for granted. Then we or someone dear to us has an accident or gets seriously ill, and [...]

Notes on Practice, Love, and Social Action Excerpt from The World Comes to You Love 1 By love, I don’t mean just between people—I mean a love for invention, architecture, neighborhoods, water, whales, soil, technology, farmers, etc. I’m talking about a love that doesn’t leave anything out. When we look deeply at the physical world, [...]

First Free Women Poems Excerpted from The First Free Women Another Mitta ~ Friend My mother always told me, Be good— and you’ll get everything you ever wanted. Now I eat once a day and wear only a shaved head and double robe. It took some strength. It took some courage to try and see [...]

Brain Plasticity An Excerpt from The Natural Laws of Children Living with a Child is Participating in the Specialization of its Brain Given this continuous synaptic pruning operating on the basis of frequency of experience, if a child is most frequently exposed to coarse, slangy vocabulary, even if it occasionally has the opportunity to hear [...]