Meant to Answer God’s Call

I just received this beautiful prayer by Archbishop Desmond Tutu from Lama Surya Das. If you don’t believe in God, you can substitute words like buddhanature, the cosmos, the universe, or the higher power. In any case, we are called into the midst of human suffering. This is the role of the bodhisattva – to […]

The Road Not Taken

The first of the Seven Principles of Mindfulness in Healing is to be your own advocate for healthcare. What does it mean to be your own advocate? At its most fundamental level, it means traveling the road not taken. Check out these words from Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken. Two roads diverged in […]

Prayer for the Twenty-First Century

This Prayer for the Twenty-First Century was composed by John Marsden. It was choreographed and performed by the Dandelions Dance Company. The background music was from Ashana’s Ave Maria. I listen to this recording on my iPhone quite frequently. May the road be free for the journey, May it lead where it promised it would. […]

Tomorrow’s Child

This poem, called Tomorrow’s Child, was read by Ray Anderson in his Ted Talk on the business logic of sustainability. After presenting his idea to make his company rely on renewable resources and a goal to achieve a zero carbon footprint in a company that relies heavily on petrol, he read this poem from one […]

The Only Solution is Love

Happy Mother’s Day This poem is for all you mother’s out there. The Buddhist teachings tell us that we were all each others’ mothers in past lives. This makes today a celebration for everyone! The Only Solution is Love We have all known the long loneliness. We have learned that the only solution is love, […]

Be Nobody

Here is another poem from William Menza. He is a lay dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Be Nobody Work to be nobody, But a humble unknown sage, Silently helping others, As best as you can. And like a bird Flying through the sky Leave no tracks, no […]

You Are Life Just as it Is

Here’s poem today from Mooji that teaches that you are life just as it is. Mooji was born Anthony Paul Moo-Young in Jamaica in 1954. He was a street artist in the “West End” of London town for many years. Sri Harilal Poonja, the renowned advaita master, or Papaji, as his followers call him was […]

Love Letter to My Left Hand

[Editor’s note: Love Letter to My Left Hand is a poem by my dharma brother John Snyder. This was another poem shared on the Order of Interbeing Yahoo group in conjunction with two threads on mindfulness in healing: “Working with Health” and “Practicing with ALS“. These conversations were very lively and inspired many of my […]

A Purification by Wendell Berry

This poem, A Purification by Wendell Berry, was posted on the Order of Interbeing Yahoo group recently by a friend of mine. I was touched by its spirit of spring and beginning anew. As you may know spring is a very important time for me and each year I celebrate the vernal equinox. My celebrations […]

A Song for the Winter Garden

[Editor’s note: John Snyder is another one of my dharma brothers in the Order of Interbeing (OI) of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. He posted this on our OI Yahoo group and gave me permission to publish it here. This poem teaches us how impermanence rules the winter and all of life. Enjoy!] A Song […]