- Are You Prepared To Save A Life?
You can find yourself in a critical situation without warning. Is Zen practice preparing you?
- Bodhisattvas Always Smile
We vow to bear witness to the world's suffering, but there's no reason to be gloomy about it. Let's be cheerful bodhisattvas!
- How To Understand Non-Self: Buddhism And Conway's Game Of Life
John Conway's Game of Life is a math puzzle that gives us insights into the Buddha's teaching of anatman.
- Give Something Away to a Stranger
Rich countries and drug firms are acting selfishly during the pandemic. Selfishness is natural, but we can strengthen our universal goodwill through training.
- These Unreliable United States
We're shocked how fragile our country is, but Buddha told us nothing lasts. We can rely only on the truth. A talk at Village Zendo, November 8, 2020.
- American Religion in America's Time of Crisis
Buddhists must respond to the current political crisis, just as abolitionists did in the 19th C. A talk at the Village Zendo, September 3, 2020.
- Who Can You Trust?
Our leaders are untrustworthy. When we hear about toilet paper hoarders or covidiots, we stop trusting each other. But there is someone we can trust.
- How Buddhism Survived The Japanese Internment
Japanese Americans founded our practice, and preserved and adapted it to life in internment camps. Today too, we must adapt our practice in a crisis.
- How Not To Panic
Panic obliterates the self. We need a strong self to face fear in meditation and all of life. Dharma at the Village Zendo, January 23, 2020.
- You Look So Zen
On a visit to some Buddhists incarcerated on a jail barge, I had to improvise how to practice Zen, just like we always have to improvise our practice.