The Story of Thay Phap An By Thay Phap An photo by Robert S. Harrison Before I became a monk, I suffered from depression but did not know it. This created a deep need within me to look for something, although I did not know exactly what I was looking…
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A Ten Minute Lesson on Self-forgiveness in San Quentin
Seido Lee deBarros, Sister Jewel, and Jun Hamamoto at San Quentin; photo courtesy of monastic Sangha Now I see why Jesus told the disciples to visit the prisoner. The prisoner lives at the physical locations of human retaliation, at the place where life keeps dissolving into death-making. If we lose…
Teaching the Student Within
By Sara Unsworth “If you want to think like a hummingbird, be the hummingbird.” - Sister Dang Nghiem Arriving at Deer Park Monastery for the Meditation and Education Retreat last November, I kept having one recurring thought: I want to learn how to connect to students. As a new, young…
Waste Not: On Filling the Compost Bin
By Edissa Nicolás-Huntsman For most of us, buying groceries can be a very stimulating experience. Going to the store to pick up bread can lead to a purchase beyond our means, in more ways than one. Once inside, there are colorful foods and bright packages to contend with. Displays entice…
Acting and Mindfulness
an interview with Jeffrey King Interviewed by Barbara Casey Jeff, what led you to become an actor? When I was a senior in high school I got into a drama class because the physical education class I wanted to be in was closed, In the drama class I started to feel…
Ancestral Roots
By AJ Johnston Children of the Whitney on altar, Antioch Baptist Church, Whitney Plantation. Photo by Edissa Nicolás-Huntsman “With understanding and compassion, you will be able to heal the wounds in your heart, and the wounds in the world. Embrace your suffering, and let it reveal to you the way…
The Other Shore
Thích Nhất Hạnh teaches us about interbeing, impermanence, no discrimination, and the end of civilization: "Mother Earth does not discriminate. If you throw perfume or flowers on her, she’s not proud. If you throw urine or excrement on her, she’s not offended. For her, everything is perfect. She knows that without this, the other cannot be. Without the mud, the lotus cannot be. So we can learn a lot from Mother Earth."
Visit to Vietnam
By Linda Spangler I had wanted to go to Vietnam for a long time. I grew up with the Vietnam War on TV and watched the fighting and the nightly list of American dead. Escaping the draft was a frequent topic of conversation in my high school. I could not understand how anyone could…
Surrender and a Lotus
By Ian Prattis After Thay's "Heart of the Buddha" retreat in the fall of 1996 at Plum Village, I went to India to teach and train in Siddha Samadhi Yoga, a system of meditation for adults and children. Committed to global religious harmony, program participants work to heal and transform deeply rooted schisms in Indian society—through…
Murder as a Call to Love
By Judith Toy When I smoked cigarettes it was two packs, sometimes three, a day. My record for lit cigarettes simultaneously burning either in ashtrays or in my hand was four. Sometimes I chewed gum, too. Half cups of cold coffee were strewn about my office. I was skinny and…