Offerings
I just returned from a week long visit with All Beings Zen Sangha in Washington DC. Last month I was with the Austin Zen Center for a week as well. Yesterday, as I was preparing to leave DC, I started to reflect a bit on “offerings”. Of course, we often think financial support when we […]
Continue readingEmbodiment Practice
Continue readingA Moral Revival
As a queer guy who recalls the days when the idea of “morality” was used by the religious right against queer folks starting with Jerry Falwell’s “Moral Majority”. This ownership of the ideas of morality by the religious right continues to this day. At least it use to be so. Thanks to Dr. William Barber […]
Continue readingLoving Kindness Meditation
Loving Kindness Meditation This is what should be accomplished by the one who is wise, Who seeks the good, and has obtained peace. Let one be strenuous, upright, and sincere, Without pride, easily contented, and joyous. Let one not be submerged by the things of the world. Let one not take upon oneself […]
Continue readingBlessing in the Chaos
BLESSING IN THE CHAOS To all that is chaotic in you, let there come silence. Let there be a calming of the clamoring, a stilling of the voices that have laid their claim on you, that have made their home in you, that go with you even to the holy places but will not let […]
Continue readingThis One Time at Radical Dharma Camp
I have been speaking and teaching for years about the practice of Radical Dharma. Not simply as a book, but as a guide to practice and life that brings forth the truth of oppression, power, privilege, and unconscious bias. It also offers a way to liberation and love that in my experience is deep, wide […]
Continue readingHappy Birthday To Me
Today is my birthday. In ancient times Zen monks would mark this day by writing a “death poem”. A death poem is one that tends to offer a reflection on death that is often coupled with a meaningful observation on life. Given my own history, I think I have a different view. I have now […]
Continue readingThe cost of whiteness?
If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together. – Aboriginal activists group, Queensland, 1970s I believe that my liberation as a disabled, queer, poor person is directly tied to the liberation of […]
Continue readingA Question
The other day I found myself in discussion with a group of smart folks in which a dialogue developed around “speaking up” and particularly around repeatedly bringing something up. This brought up for me, yet again, an ongoing question that I often notice come up, particularly, when I am in conflict with other folks I […]
Continue readingRight Livelihood
“Right Livelihood is concerned with ensuring that one earns one’s living in a righteous way. For a lay disciple the Buddha teaches that wealth should be gained in accordance with certain standards. One should acquire it only be legal means, not illegally; one should acquire it peacefully, without coercion or violence; one should acquire it […]
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