Virtues Are Like Vitamins
Virtues can be a little bit like vitamins. Vitamins are essential for health. But what if you get more than your body needs? If you take...
Just Become A Swinging Door
When we practice [meditation] our mind always follows our breathing. When we inhale, the air comes into our inner world. When we exhale,...
I Am Me
I am me. In all the world, there is no one exactly like me. There are persons who have some parts like me, but no one adds up exactly...
Die Empty
I remember a meeting in which a friend asked a strange and unexpected question: “What do you think is the most valuable land in the...
Path With Heart
In undertaking a spiritual life, what matters is simple: We must make certain that our path is connected with our heart. In the end,...
Practice Over Parables
A Zen teacher once told me something interesting. We were meditating together at my home when my dog began to bark. He sensed my...
A Fixed Place To Stand
Archimedes (c. 287–c. 212 BCE), a Greek philosopher and mathematician, noticed that if a lever was balanced in the correct place,...
Run With The Unexpected
So many portals to you Hindu, Jew, Sufi, Sikh, artist, lover, dancer, explorer, peace-warrior. Children, strangely familiar,...
See The Universe In A Sunflower
I live in Plum Village, in the Dordogne region of southwest France, an area known for its sunflowers. But people who come to Plum Village...
Blessing For The Longest Night
All throughout these months as the shadows have lengthened, this blessing has been gathering itself, making ready, preparing for...
Rich Man And The Beggar
Many years ago, a man was sitting in quiet contemplation by a riverbank when he was disturbed by a beggar from the local village....
Radical Reflection
We feel we can capture something by thinking about it. In reality, when we grasp at thoughts, the very process of trying to possess a...