New Year’s / Silvester Eve–when I was eight years old. [Silvester because in 1691 Pope Innocent XII declared the first day of January as the feast day of St. Silvester.]
We were allowed to stay up till midnight to hear church bells ring-in the new year. Adults would amuse themselves with fancy dress and streamers, while the young ones sneaked a [...]
last post for ‘08
you are a mystic
Ever had a momentary sensation that everything—I mean everything—was all right? And did so without being stoned or intoxicated? Such a moment had no goal, no purpose. You were fully present yet felt as if suspended in time and space. No effort, no striving, no making-it-happen.
Sit still and close your eyes, exhale, listen. Let memories rise to the surface.
Perhaps it was [...]
our sunday poem (by David Whyte)
When your eyes are tired
The world is tired also.
When your vision has gone
no part of the world can find you.
Time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.
There you can be sure
you are not beyond love.
The dark will be your womb
tonight.
The night will give you a horizon
further than you can [...]
gently
“Be soft in your [life]. Think of [it] as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith in its course. It will go its own way, meandering here, trickling there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices. Just follow it. Never let it out of your sight. It will [...]
help~fullness
I’ve been flying the peace flag for the last three days (PACE in Italian). Waking at 4 o’clock this morning I thought of the unwieldiness of such concepts as peace, generosity, and compassion. How does one turn sentiments and intentions into action? How can I, a man of ordinary capacity, make a dent in a world [...]
family gathering
My younger brother Kurt (who, in the story I posted yesterday, wasn’t born till a year later) is a country doctor and blues musician near our ancient hometown of Hildesheim. He reliably phones each Christmas Day; his daughters Lena and Marieke, my nieces, visited here last summer. Family!
hallelujah
Click for Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah
a boy’s christmas (anno 1949)
I don’t recall having many family Christmases while growing up: ours was not a steady troupe. Already our mother had died, a new one had joined us that year, and father would soon be off on his wandering ways. Overshadowing everything was The War and its aftermath, with grief and shame running deeply. Yet this day, December [...]
remembering thailand
On this day a year ago, above the city of Chiang Mai, I exited the monastery following an early-morning leave-taking ritual. My teacher-monk told me to take mindfulness back into the world: “No difference: monastery, outside,” he said. This silent retreat, amid golden statues and huge stupa, had filled my heart with timeless joy.
Descending the 309 steps of [...]
Jesus
It’s not a big stretch for a Buddhist to believe that Jesus was a Bodhisattva, certainly one of great teachers of all times. There is also evidence that in the so-called lost years Jesus travelled to the East and studied Buddhism. And it doesn’t get any more Buddhist than wishing Peace on Earth & Goodwill to All. And who, pray, were the Wise Men and [...]
what’s enlightenment?
In my continuing inquiry into the mysteries of an awakened life, I frequently seat myself at the feet of teachers. Ven. Master Sheng-yen is a renowned Taiwanese Zen master, hailed by the Dalai Lama as “someone who is very experienced.” The following exchange is taken from an interview by Carter Phipps.
Interviewer: In your recent book* you write, “Sometimes the mind experiences something [...]
go wash your bowl
The word Zen is used all over the place. Just google it and you’ll get Zen florist, restaurant, motorcycle club, engineering, gardening, hardcore Zen, home cleaning, courier, office design, dentistry, dog training, and hundreds more. “I’m feeling zenny today” and “that’s, like, totally zen” are common exclamations. They imply an understanding, but of what?
Occasionally I get annoyed by such “ignorance,” thus demonstrating my own. Each time I try to [...]
our sunday poem (read before accepting an invitation)
When they say Don’t I know you?
say no.
When they invite you to the party
remember what parties are like
before answering.
Someone telling you in a loud voice
they once wrote a poem.
Greasy sausage balls on a paper plate.
Then reply.
If they say We should get together
say why?
It’s not that you don’t love them anymore.
You’re trying to remember something
too important [...]
