Category: News

When chopping the carrots, I chopped the carrots. Measuring the rice, I measured the rice. And in between this task and that task while taking on the role of Tenzo at a Zen meditation retreat in Minnesota last week, I scoured that Airbnb’s kitchen looking for measuring spoons. There were none to be found. I…

If the flowers were the thieves, then there would be no problem. Thinking this morning about where my attention goes. I’m grateful to be drawn in by the beauty in nature, but I have definitely been ensnared by the thieves that make up social media. I notice how my attention span has weakened in the…

To see a World in a Grain of SandAnd a Heaven in a Wild Flower Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour -William Blake I thought about those lines of that famous poem, never having read the rest of it. How intense the complete poem is surprised me, though I guess…

I was thinking about suffering today in terms of choices we might make. So much suffering arises out of a desire, a craving, either for a thing or a situation we want. Or a desire to not have the thing, to not have the situation. There’s a million articles on the internet and at least…

Many years ago, I was reading a book by Thich Nhat Hanh in which he described using your time at red lights to meditate. This morning on my way to work, I hit the usual red lights and reflected on how I’ve got so many ways to get to where I’m going, that I’ll usually…

A flash fiction story by J. Parrish Lewis A present-day woman finds an antique mousetrap, left behind by the tormented widow who is determined to keep her home ready for her husband’s return from the Civil War. 2019 Molly’s beat-up sedan—the same she’d driven since high school, nearly a decade ago though she was loathe…

Yesterday I was reminded of the phrase “Let zazen sit zazen.” Zazen, in case you don’t know, is the Japanese term for sitting meditation in Zen Buddhism. The phrase has to do with not going to sitting meditation with some goal to attain, such as enlightenment, but rather to see that sitting meditation (zazen) is…

On Friday, I drove up to Ohlone College in Fremont, California, for an event hosted by professors at the college. Five Deaf authors, including me, had the opportunity to give short presentations about our work, answer questions, and (if we had them, sell our books). I felt very honored to have been invited as one…

One part of the Eightfold path described by Buddha is Right Intention, also called Right Resolve. Or at least those are two English translations of the original terms. My understanding of Right Intention is that it is about having the intention of letting go of things rather than grasping for the things we desire in…