How do we read a haiku? A surprising primer on this art comes from a slim volume by Yoel Hoffmann titled Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death. In the introductory part of the book, we learn that a haiku consists of seventeen syllables written in three … Read more
We were sitting across from each other at our usual corner table, the afternoon sun cutting a sharp diagonal line between us. My friend—let’s call him John—someone whose intellect I admire and whose presence usually grounds me, was listening as I retraced a story about my week. Right in the middle of a sentence, I … Read more
Since starting my meditation practice, I’ve made a habit of observing my inner critic. As a result, I’ve noticed that its most insidious tendency is to weave all kinds of stories around certain situations and people I meet. Usually, those stories are negative. They try to make someone “wrong” and assign blame, all the while … Read more
Have you ever imagined mindfulness as your best friend? An interesting perspective on this issue comes from the book Satipatthana: A Practice Guide by a scholar-monk Bhikkhu Analayo. In the chapter titled “Cultivating Mindfulness,” he makes the following comparison: Although mindfulness requires cultivation, being a quality that needs to be established, such cultivation is not … Read more
If you look at the front page of any mainstream newspaper, you will be overwhelmed with the amount of ugliness, violence, and tragedy in the world. But that’s not the whole truth. In Random Acts of Kindness, writer and journalist Rachel Greco insists that there’s equal amount of kindness and good, and much of it … Read more