I came across these wonderful words of wisdom from Karlfried Graf von Dürckheim through an old friend of mine who has undergone many recent transformations. I think he shared this quote from The Way of Transformation with me about a year ago, and it read it again today. The things that struck me about this quote […]
Walk In Peace
These words of wisdom for today come from my teacher, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, who we call Thay. The picture and image reflect on the Thay’s principal teachings: walk in peace. I love this image and it reminds me of my days with Thich Nhat Hanh in 1997. It was a retreat on the […]
Worthiness
These words of wisdom today come from Thomas Merton, an American Catholic writer, mystic, and friend of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. I have heard Thich Nhat Hanh, known as Thay by his followers, speak about Thomas Merton many times in recent years. The subject of worthiness comes up everyday in the life of followers […]
The Value Of Prayer
These words of wisdom from Lama Surya Das are music to my ears. Not only does he mention my teacher, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in a very loving way, he, like me, was born into a Jewish family. Prayer was an important part of our daily lives. We said the morning shemah, the blessings […]
You And I
These words of wisdom come from Lama Surya Das and contain a poem by Rumi. This short poem expresses the insight of interbeing in its simplest possible form. This word, interbeing, refers to the interconnectedness of all things. It was proposed by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh many years ago and soon, he hopes, it […]
The Eightfold Path
These words of wisdom come from the Tricycle Daily Dharma for January 30, 2014. They talk about the eight steps in the Eightfold Path of the Buddha. These steps have been the subject of many articles in these pages and it is always good to gain another perspective. Bhante Henepola Gunaratana is a well-know Sri […]
The Goddess Of Mercy
Robert Aitken Roshi was an American Buddhist pioneer and author of the widely ready book, The Mind of Clover: Essays in Zen Buddhist Ethics. Along with The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment by Philip Kapleau and Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi these provided me with my initial readings in […]
The Fertile Soil Of Sangha
These words of wisdom are taught by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (known as Thay by his followers). I have heard Thay teach about the fertile soil of sangha many times. He also teaches that the next Buddha, Maitreya, might well be a sangha. The sangha is one of the three precious jewels of Buddhism. […]
Wholeness And Interconnectedness
These words of wisdom from Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn have a nice ring to them. They convey the importance of the insight of interbeing and a clear and succinct way. Wholeness And Interconnectedness Perhaps ultimately, spiritual simply means experiencing wholeness and interconnectedness directly, a seeing that individuality and the totality are interwoven, that nothing is separate […]
The Bodhisattva’s Edge
These words of wisdom are from the former grand abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, Myogen Steve Stucky. He passed away on December 31, 2013, a little over three months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. On December 27, Steve offered the following Death Poem. which appeared on his website, Subtle Eye: Many Zen […]





















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