I think the real lesson of Obama's win should be that every day is a new day, that it's never too late to change for the good. Who knows what kind of president he'll be, and what sort of challenges he'll have to face? We are all virtually guaranteed to be disappointed by some (perhaps large) set of actions he takes. What interests and heartens ( Read more... )

And I love her hair, I love her gentle skin, I love her rough tones and her soft belly, I love the smoke that curls above my fingertips reaching up through diamond windows that spread the light of the sun across her face, I love the air that quivers and the earth that shakes and sings for the day when there will be peace.

It’s not about self-improvement. Self-improvement is one of the many myths of ego, that we have to be better, somehow, that there’s something about us which needs to be changed or fixed or improved. It’s not that we’re perfect, but we are absolutely fine just the way we are. Everything is fine just the way it is, just as it is ( Read more... )

I love Asia, I love nonfunctioning everything and all manner of cultural weirdness, I love holidays every other week and the most delicious food in the world, I love the pits dug in the road and the mud under my feet, the horribly polluted air, the mountains, the birds, the clear blue sky, I love everything, and there is nothing that can stop me ( Read more... )

I'm counting the beats of my drum and ringing a bell in time, there are monklets in every direction and my mind is single-pointedly focused on making an offering of my body. Hung and everything I am is reduced to nectar; phat and it bubbles up, and I offer it, I give it to my enemies and I give it to my protectors (all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas ( Read more... )

The first step is recognizing that whatever comes, comes and goes.

The sum of spirituality is being completely aware of every moment, moment by moment

It’s October and the monsoon still rages thunderous rains in my ear. Butter lamps struggle against the wind; I struggle with them, wish them well. They burn and silently endure.

It's easy to point fingers. We avoid having to take responsibility, and at the same time we solidify our sense that there are things "out there" which threaten or bring harm to us. But that feeling of being threatened only exists relative to a sense of self, a feeling of aloneness or apartness. If we didn't have that sense of self, there'd be no ( Read more... )

Passing beyond suffering means identifying what it is, precisely, that causes suffering in the first place--until we know, we're totally lost as to how to avoid suffering in the future.