Swampland Flowers, The Letters and Lectures of Zen Master Ta Hui, translated by JC Cleary

In his 1967 Christmas sermon on peace and nonviolence, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stressed the interrelatedness of Earth, nations, and all life:  Now, let me suggest first that, if we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. . . . We must develop a world…

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s there are few.” By Zenkei Blanche Hartman Tricycle, January 6, 2022 Beginner’s mind is Zen practice in action. It is the mind that is innocent of preconceptions and expectations, judgments and prejudices. Beginner’s mind is just present to explore and observe and see “things…

1. I am of the nature to grow old; there is no way to escape growing old.2. I am of the nature to have ill health; there is no way to escape having ill health.3. I am of the nature to die; there is no way to escape death.4. All that is dear to me…

In an apocryphal statement attributed to James Joyce, he once described the attention that is necessary to look at a work of art as “beholding.” If the viewer gets too close to an artwork it becomes pornography or if he gets too distant it becomes criticism. Beholding art means giving it enough space to let…

In my mind, church talk about an association of darkness with evil and goodness with light made no sense. I knew that darkness held and healed me. —Barbara Holmes

For the road to Santiago, don’t make new declarations  about what to bring and what to leave behind.  Bring what you have. You were always going that way anyway,you were always going there all along. © David Whyte