A few nights ago, we re-watched The Legend of Bagger Vance in which Rannulph Junuh, played by Matt Damon learns the Zen teachings of Bagger Vance, played by Will Smith. Junuh is in a golf tournament with two top players in Savannah, Georgia and has fallen 12 stokes behind. Bagger Vance gives Junuh the following […]
Interbeing with All Life
June 8, 2017 By
When I discussed interbeing with all life with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson several years ago, he said, I would say in modern times, (I need to define modern as in the last century). What you said recent times was 25 years. In modern times, we have come to learn about ecology. I’ll use a single […]
Can We Learn to Laugh at Ourselves?
April 4, 2017 By
Can we learn to laugh at ourselves for the situation we’ve created in the United States now with money being more important than people, nature or life on earth? Can we learn to laugh at ourselves for destroying the only planet that we know of that can support life as we know it? Isn’t it […]
A Song For All Beings
March 3, 2017 By
Last Saturday night, I attended a performance of A Song For All Beings to a packed house. Composed and produced by Jennifer Berezan and friends, A Song For All Beings is based on the Buddhist practice of metta and the four immeasurable minds or Brahma Viharas (divine abodes) of loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and […]
7 Ways to be More Grateful
February 28, 2017 By
These 7 ways to be more grateful in life were written by Luminita Saviac – The Purpose Ferry. I find them to be very useful in light of my daily practice of gratitude. If you are not practicing gratitude on a daily basis, maybe you should begin. It is one of the fastest ways to […]
Include All Things
February 23, 2017 By
The insight of interbeing tells us to include all things. This inclusiveness pertains to people, animals, plants and minerals all the way down to the smallest atom (hydrogen) and all the up beyond the visible universe. But this is not a new idea as many think. For example, in my interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson […]
Man is Not the Enemy
January 20, 2017 By
With lots of unrest in the world and in the United States about the inauguration we have to remember that man is not the enemy. So who or what is the enemy? I would say that greed, aggression and delusion are the enemy – the three poisons taught by the Buddha. For example, in Tanzania, […]
Reverence for Life
December 1, 2016 By
Reverence for Life is the first of the Five Mindfulness Trainings authored by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (known as “Thay” by his followers.) In the time of the Buddha it was known as the first precept and, in fact, at that time, all of the precepts were simple statements like, “Not to kill,” “Not […]
The Pale Blue Dot
October 25, 2016 By
Last night, I saw a remarkable image of the pale blue dot (planet Earth) as viewed from the Cassini spacecraft during an eclipse of the sun by Saturn. The image was shown on the California Academy of Sciences Planetarium at the Dean Lecture on astronomy by Dr. Carolyn Porco, Cassini Imaging Team Leader from Boulder, […]
Thich Nhat Hanh on Interbeing
August 17, 2016 By
These words of wisdom for Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh on interbeing are a classic statement about the interconnectedness of all phenomena. For example, if you think about the recent tragedy in the marine ecosystem of central Vietnam, where a massive toxic waste disposal by Formosa Steel caused the death of millions of sea animals […]
