Looking over my shoulder at the milestones on my path, one thing stands as constant: nothing is so sweet, so fun and so fruitful as working in creative partnership. And so at last, the Bicycle Buddha is ready to hit to the road, in tandem! With my co-bicyclista and dharma sista, Red Sara. This Canada …
Category: Zen & Dharma
The giving muscle
There’s this old Zen chestnut where the monk asks, why does the Bodhisattva of Compassion have so many eyes? The master replies: it is like a hand reaching for a pillow in the night. I love that image, of compassion or generosity as an autonomic nervous response, as natural as breathing. Every cell like an …
Because even the word obstacle is an obstacle
Try to love everything that gets in your way: the Chinese women in flowered bathing caps murmuring together in Mandarin, doing leg exercises in your lane while you execute thirty-six furious laps, one for every item on your to-do list.
Finding my religion
One time the wise PattiPow caught me on my way out the door, and asked me where I was going. I told her I was off to an all-night dance party. She smiled and nodded. Ah, she said, you’re going to church. Today I went to church at the Mountain Rain Zen Centre. The Centre …
When shit happens
There is no question that my escape from Homeland Security was partially pure dumb luck—or if you prefer, fate, or karma. Others have handled such situations with greater skill and been refused. The winds of confusion and paranoia blow in all directions and right now those winds are blowing strong in the US of A. …