A Gaze Without Judgement: Japanese Friendship Garden, Balboa Park, San Diego

Last October (that gives you an idea how remiss I am with posting!) I was fortunate to visit the Japanese Friendship Garden at the beautiful Balboa Park in sun-drenched San Diego. The visit was highlighted with a unique opportunity for an unexpected eyes-open meditative experience. As a Vipassana practitioner I normally find meditation [...]

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Happiness and Meditation

I’m reading Matthieu Ricard’s 2003 book Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill (English edition, 2006).   Matthieu Ricard, as you may know well already, left a promising career in cellular genetics in France to become a Buddhist monk, living today in Tibet and Nepal.  He plays a very active role in the Mind and Life [...]

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On Hiking, and On Returning to Meditation

The timing of Stephen Altschuler’s most recent Mindful Hiker eNewsletter was perfect for me.  Read on and you’ll see why…
In his May 2008 edition, Stephen writes on the topic of hiking as a type of meditation, a subject he expounds upon in fine detail in his book of the same name, The Mindful Hiker, one of the [...]

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The Diamond Sutra: Thank You, British Library

On my last visit to London (on business; good thing financially speaking), I visited the British Library for the first time.  The Sir John Ritblat Gallery is a permanent free display of ancient books, including early literature and holy books; maps, the Magna Carta, writings of Shakespeare and an array of literary giants, an impressive Beatles display and much [...]

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Chop Wood, Carry Water…Mow Lawn, Shovel Driveway…?

Before Enlightenment: Chop Wood, Carry Water. 
After Enlightenment: Chop Wood, Carry Water.
It’s an ancient Zen saying you’ve likely read many times before.  Author Stephen Altschuler recommends giving it a try literally, at least the “chop wood” part, in his recent article for the SF Chronicle, with some welcome how-to advice on chopping wood without hurting yourself.  [...]

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Intelligent Optimism? Sounds Good to Me!

 I recently came across Ode magazine through some series of articles, blogs and links that I don’t think I could replicate now.  But I am glad I found the website of this still quite new magazine for “intelligent optimists” – ”a print and online publication about positive news, about the people and ideas that are changing [...]

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Terry Dobson (1937-1992), American Aikido Expert, Writer of “Aikido in Action” Story

The story of the Aikido expert confronting a drunk in the Tokyo subway, included in the book Essential Spirituality by Roger Walsh (pp.96-98), which we read at last week’s practice group, was written by Terry Dobson (1937-1992), an American aikido expert, writer and teacher.  Surprisingly, there is no citation to Terry Dobson within Walsh’s book.
This link [...]

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Mapping the Dharma – Book Review Link

I came across an interesting book review which reminded me of a past blog posting of Tim’s awhile back about a graphical representation of Buddhism.
The book is entitled Mapping the Dharma: A Concise Guide to the Middle Way of the Buddha, by Paul Gerhards.  It sounds from Peter Clothier’s review that the book takes the [...]

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Speaking of Faith on “Buddhism in the World”

Speaking of Faith is a radio program hosted by Krista Tippett that I listen to on the internet sometimes.  It’s always thoughtful and interesting.  Recently there was a program called “Buddhism in the World”,  in which she interviews Pankaj Mishra, author of a book called An End to Suffering: The Buddha in the World.   I [...]

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Yatra Trilogy at the Museum of Fine Arts

Just a reminder for those who are interested that the MFA will be showing multiple screenings of the stunning Yatra Trilogy, which explores Buddhism in its various contexts across Asia.

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