In these wonderful words of wisdom from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, we learn how to prepare for the future. When I first began writing these pages in 2012, several of the mentors I had would say, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!” This was a really hard one from me as […]
Are You Doing What You Want?
Are you doing what you want in your life? Are you listening to your inner pilot light – that ‘still, small voice’ inside of you? Do you even know what you really want to be doing? Each of these important questions could be used as a koan for your meditation practice right now. “We rarely […]
What the World Needs Now
What the world needs now is generosity instead of greed, kindness, gratitude and compassion instead of aggression, wisdom instead of delusion, and most of all, unconditional love instead of hatred. These were the conclusions we came to last night at our dharma discussion in the Mindfulness in Healing sangha. The discussion was sparked by the […]
The Bodhisattva Vows
When I first was introduced to Zen Meditation at the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC) in Green Gulch Farm in Sausalito, I learned the four Bodhisattva vows. One day last week, I woke up thinking about these vows and what they meant to me and then the following came in an email: THE BODHISATTVA PATH […]
Mindfulness Trainings
The Five Mindfulness Trainings of the Plum Village Tradition and the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings of the Order of Interbeing are guiding wisdom for how we can be mindful in our daily lives. They were written by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) and modified over the years by Thay and the monks and nuns in […]
The World We Have
A we approach Christmas time it is important to examine the world we have right now. Our world is full of political unrest, racial, economic and gender inequality, reliance on fossil fuels, climate and forest degradation, and over consumption. How do we cope with such inequities at a time when we are singing, “Joy to […]
Be Willing to Love
These words of wisdom from Jack Kronfield teach us to be willing to love and to stay present. These are the two freedoms that we have, regardless of our situation. If we are willing to let love in our hearts, we can connect with the beauty of life around us and connect with other people. […]
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 […]
Happy Thanksgiving on this Wonderful Day of Gratitude
I want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving on this wonderful day of gratitude. My feeling is that everyday is a day of thanksgiving! We have everything we need to be happy in the present moment, as Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh teaches. We should practice gratitude every day of our lives, morning […]
The Path of Awakening…
The path of awakening is not an easy path, as I have been finding out over the past 40 years. Truly, there have been wonderful moments of awakening, but then I would fall back into the pursuit of money for the support of myself and my family. After a while, I caught myself and began […]
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