Attending to What is Happening Right Now

These words of wisdom from Cheri Huber teach us about attending to what is happening right now. They encourage us to be present for our experience and thereby, we can “enjoy the wonders of life,” as Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh says. According to Cheri, the wonders of life include what is actually happening right […]

Compassion and Empathy

Roshi Joan Halifax is one of the most prominent female Zen masters of our day. We have known each other since we met at a retreat with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1997. This was during the summer of my first episode of muscle invasive bladder cancer. […]

Eating Mindfully With The Sangha Of All Sentient Beings

[Editor’s note: This article by Lyn Fine is a summary of a Day of Mindfulness that took place on Sunday, December 7, 2014 sponsored by Mindful Peacebuilding. The facilitators were Dr. Jina Shah, M. D., John Salerno-White, Judy Seicho Fleischman. Jina Shah, an international public health physician, was raised as a vegetarian with the nonviolent […]

Grief that Brings Us Back to Our True Home

This poem by Alice Walker appeared on Tricycle.com. She teaches us about the grief that brings us back to our true home. Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh teaches the our true home is living in the present moment. This is accompanied by the insight of interbeing, which is the interconnectedness of all things and the […]

Entering the Silence

Entering the silence is such a difficult thing for us Westerners. We seem to have a fear of silence. We turn our attention away from the silence as if we don’t want it. But then, when we experience it for real, perhaps for the first time, it is so strange for us. We don’t recognize […]

Sister Chan Khong Spoke for Thich Nhat Hanh

Pope Francis invited Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) to speak about the signing of the declaration against slavery. Since Thay is still sick in the hospital, Sister Chan Khong spoke for Thich Nhat Hanh from a prepared speech. The speech is available in its entirety on the Plum Village website. Pope Francis invited spiritual […]

Refuge Beyond Time

A few days ago, we had an article about Huineng, the sixth patriarch of Zen. Tomorrow, we will have another. In these words of wisdom we hear from a later Chan (Zen) Master, Hongzhi, writing about the refuge beyond time. The refuge beyond time occurs “where the three times cease.” This is the place where […]

Acceptance and Surrender with Eckhart Tolle

A few years back, I could not get enough of Eckhart Tolle. I went to my local library and rented every audio recording they had of Eckhardt Tolle. One of the most influential books of his is The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. This video is on acceptance and surrender with Eckhart […]

Stop the Bombing

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, known as Thay by his followers, spoke at the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden in 1972. He urged the Americans to stop the bombing in Vietnam. He was speaking about the people in Vietnam that he knew were dying. He did not put the […]

How to Visualize Uncle Monk

On Saturday night, I returned home from a short trip to New York to celebrate my son’s engagement and attend his last cabaret performance before he and his fiance move back to the Bay Area at the end of December. While meditating on the plane, I figured out how to visualize Uncle Monk, Zen Master […]