juillet 2014
Serving at the World Cup
Someone recently passed along this quote to me (from someone named Rachel Naomi Remen): "Helping, fixing and serving represent three different ways of seeing life: When you help, you see life as weak. When you [...]
juin 2014
The passing of Malgosia Braunek Roshi
It is with heavy heart that I must write again about the death of a great teacher in our lineage: Malgosia Jiho Braunek Roshi died on Monday at the age of 67 in Warsaw after [...]
Almost-summer gladness
Another fine almost-summer day here finds me happy again to offer another poem to my zenscribe comrades, near and far. Many thanks for comments on previous posting... Glad we're back, having never left. ANNALS OF [...]
An offering for Bloomsday
It took Bloomsday to bring me back to these pages. If you're reading this, I owe you deep thanks for keeping zenscribe in mind even without any sign of life and words here. So with [...]
avril 2014
Farewell Peter Matthiessen
"Zen is really just a reminder to stay alive and to be awake," the Zen master and great American writer Peter Matthiessen once said. "Zen practice is about appreciating your life in this moment. If [...]
février 2014
Easter in Portugal with special guest Catherine Genno Pagès Roshi
Ten years ago, in October 2004, the first seeds of our Wild Flower Zen community in Portugal were planted when the Porto Buddhist Union invited my teacher, Roshi Catherine Genno Pagès, to visit for the [...]
Generosity
It's been days since my last entry. Nothing special to note here tonight except this, which came to me via email, among a variety of "inspirational" quotes, and I couldn't let it slip away without [...]
The same again: Happy Birthday James Joyce
Feb. 2 is so many things for so many people: an ancient pagan day of celebrating light, as the days begin to grow longer after winter's long darkness; a Christian day of celebrating Christ's "presentation [...]
janvier 2014
Rest in peace, Pete Seeger
Sad day: The indefatigable songman and peace activist Pete Seeger died today, at the age of 94. He was a national treasure for all those Americans who stood up and spoke out, who refused to [...]
Yes in hazy moonlight
There was a hazy moon in the dark sky tonight. I noticed it earlier this evening when I was returning home after a day at work. And I saw it last night, too. But each [...]
Keep touching the ground
Back at work and other activities this week after the traditional holiday "break.'' Seems a bit strange, like I've been away for a long while, and strangely just the same, as if I've never left. [...]
Completion and renewal
As 2013 has come to a close and we enter 2014, it's a great moment to remind ourselves where we have been and also to look clearly at where we are: at both an end [...]
novembre 2013
After Thanksgiving
Fog started rolling in last night, hovering along our street as my son and I returned late from a Thanksgiving feast. He noted the odd brilliance it cast, affording a seemingly incongruous clarity to the [...]
Retreat calendar spring-summer 2014
2014 (spring and summer) multi-day retreats with the Wild Flower Zen Sangha and Sensei Amy Hollowell: April 17-21, Portugal (with special guest Roshi Catherine Genno Pagès) May 9-16, Belgium (co-led with Sensei Frank de Waele [...]
Perfect zero
Today, wars all around and other natural disasters, the "economy" in tatters, hunger, disease, plastic surgery rampant. And in my weekly agenda, dotted with quotes from artists through the ages, there is this: "Il réalisait [...]
Lou Reed’s wide-awake death
It's been a couple of weeks since I learned of Lou Reed's death, the day after he died, as I returned to Paris after retreat in Portugal. And only now did I finally find what [...]
The Hidden Lamp. Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women
Finally yesterday the book I've been awaiting for months and months arrived. When the postman knocked and rang at my door, I was sure he had what I wanted: "The Hidden Lamp. Stories from Twenty-Five [...]
octobre 2013
Rainbow
Back in Montreuil today. Lazing in the late afternoon with Proust. I look up from the book for a moment, out the window, and there, a magnificent rainbow curves across the cloudy sky like a [...]
Retreat notes: Brilliant sun and fly buzz in Coimbra
Here I am on retreat in Portugal, amid ribbons of highways, under brilliant sun overlooking Coimbra. Great sitting all day altogether. Someone said this morning he was happy to be here and thanked me for [...]
A coffee break with nothing and everything
Without giving much thought to my intention, I left this blog in suspension for awhile. Then I picked it up again. Did it stop? Did it start? Before this item was posted, what was there? [...]
