Something is Not Right!

Something is not right in my neighborhood. I took a walk yesterday at a usual place by San Francisco Bay a few hundred yards west of San Quentin State Penitentiary. This spot is a favorite of mine because it has a rugged path of a hundred or so yards by the bay and half that […]

The Pale Blue Dot

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, […]

Love Lifts Me

When I think about the love I have for my children, love lifts me out of whatever unwholesome thoughts I may have in my mind. When I look down on China Beach in Point Lobos State Reserve just a few miles south of Carmel, California, love lifts me due to the white sands, blue-green sea […]

When You Love Someone…

When you love someone, you think it will be the same all the time and last forever, but we know that all conditioned things are impermanent, so nothing can stay the same. The best we can hope for is that our love continues to grow as we get older together. The other day, I was […]

Beauty of the Nameless

The beauty of the nameless is exactly what I would call the pictures of the natural world that I have been collecting over the years. I fail to try to identify the types of birds, bees and flowers that I photograph. Even the names of the cities and towns that I’ve visited in foreign countries […]

Love Is All Around

During the Holiday Season and the time of the Winter Solstice, we need to be assured that love is all around. Take a look at the couple in the photograph below. Love is all around them as the look out across San Francisco Bay on a beautiful October evening, being aware of only each other, […]

My Life with Thay

My life with Thay (Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh) began in a small church in Berkeley, California in 1984. By some strange coincidence, I happened to sit next to him is the second row before he was introduced to speak. I became a solo practitioner in Thay’s tradition on that day. I was shy and […]

Listening Closely to the Music of Your Mind

Andrew Olendzki, Ph. D. is a Buddhist scholar, teacher, and one of my favorite writers. I read everything of his that appears in Buddhist magazines. In these words of wisdom from Tricycle.com, he writes about listening closely to the music of your mind. In this way, we learn to see life just as it is, […]

What Do You Do When You Feel Lost

What do you do when you feel lost and don’t know what to do next? What do you do when life no longer helps you achieve your goals? What do you do when nothing you do seems to be right anymore and things are falling apart? I have been struggling with these questions ever since […]

Do Not Waste Your Time

These words of wisdom from Cheri Huber tell us, “Do not waste your time on what you don’t want.” You needn’t waste your time trying to get rid of what you don’t want in your life. Just add what you do want. – Cheri Huber This reminds me of what my wife would always say […]