Can creative writing be considered part of our Dharma practice

Giving voice to the poetry of the Dharma

Accepting impermanence and treasuring the now

Avoiding attachment to illusory gains of spiritual achievement

Furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto   The old pond a frog jumps in kerplunk    Matsuo Basho’s (1644–94) haiku—that mind-altering frog vanishing into an ancient pond—has become so deeply sc

To the uninitiated, Vajrayana’s ritualistic and esoteric appearance can make some observances seem heavy and difficult to comprehend. Tantric texts are laden with difficult religious vocabulary and in

Editor's note: This article was first published in the now-retired Bodhi Journal, Issue 9, September 2008.   01. Prologue Indicating the vedāntic tone in the śataka 

It was at a meeting with the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation’s chairman that I was first acquainted with Bill Porter. Robert Y.C. Ho had introduced me to a certain book he had finish

“The Tao never changes. What we eat and wear has changed, but the Tao hasn’t changed. There have been advances in science and society, but so what? We’re eating better now. But it’s the same old Lao-t

Amongst White Clouds presents a rare opportunity to catch a glimpse into the reclusive lives of China’s Zen Buddhist hermits.  The American director Edward A. Burger guides his audience through the fo

In the preface to the film The Buddha, D. Max Moerman from Barnard University says, “Like any good story it has a lot to teach… the story of his [the Buddha’s] life is a beautiful way of tel

This is not a political statement. It has no ulterior motive, it seeks to provoke no immediate reaction “for” or “against” this or that side in the Vietnam war. It is on the co

The Buddha emphasized many times that the doctrine he preached was understandable only by the wise. He also said that one who sees the dhamma can see the Buddha and vice versa. The statement is very t

With the 20th Century often characterized by poets and essayists as an era of lost innocence, many in the 21st Century have had the fortune (and this is truly a fortune) to understand that black and w