Preview of My New Book!
The following is an excerpt from my new book THE OTHER SIDE OF NOTHING. This is Chapter 36, entitled “Who Walked My Dog?”. It’s my favorite chapter. This isn’t the whole chapter — you’ll have to get the book to read that! But it’s most of it. Enjoy! Just a few of minutes ago, I […]
The Buddhist View on Suicide
The following first appeared on the Suicide Girls website in 2013. I have revised it a little. The most famous rock and roll suicide is, of course, Kurt Cobain. To me, though, the most important rock and roll suicide was one you probably never heard of; the suicide of Robert “Iggy Nition” Morningstar, lead singer […]
So You Want to Be a Dharma Teacher
When I first started getting into Zen there was a brief period when I thought I wanted to be a dharma teacher. I remember telling my first teacher, Tim, I wanted to be a dharma teacher and he just gave me a look. It’s hard to describe that look, but I remember how it felt. […]
A New Year’s Koan
From SHINJI SHOBOGENZO translated by Gudo Wafu Nishijima and Michael Leutchford: One day a monk asked Master Kyosei Dofu of Ryusaku Temple in the Ko district: Is the first day of the New Year related to Buddhism? The Master said: Yes it is. The monk said: What is the Buddhist teaching about New Year’s Day? […]
The Universe is Born and Dies With You
I’m not precisely sure what the material I am offering for this week’s blog post is. It may be notes I made for one of my YouTube videos. It may be notes I made for use in my forthcoming book. Maybe it’s both! For many years I have noticed that a lot of my favorite […]
