Category: Dharma
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Insight Gatha
The partner, child, and parent are the teacher. Clouds and mountains teach the student. The seed of diligence supports marriage, family and sangha. The fruit springs forth from love and understanding.
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Coffee Arrives. Looking Deeply.
Appreciating a cup of coffee from Burundi and roasted by Blue Bottle – they call the roast Burundi Kayanza Mpanga. What do I know if where my coffee comes? Not much! It is quite amazing that I can sit here on a bright and sunny morning in the Ojai Valley drinking a cup of coffee from across…
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Catching Snakes and No-Self
One of the deepest and most difficult teachings of the Buddha is no-self. In fact, we are warned that it can be dangerous if we don’t understand clearly this concept. Furthering my study and reflection on this teaching, I read The Sutra on Knowing the Better Way to Catch a Snake. In this sutra, we can learn…
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Graduation Speech at SBCC
As Academic Senate President, I had the honor of speaking to over 500 graduates at Santa Barbara City College on Friday, May 23, 2014. The following are the words I shared. On behalf of the Santa Barbara City College faculty, I welcome you. Welcome to our faculty, our staff, our administrators, our board of trustees.…
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Philip Seymour Hoffman and Me
Happiness, the End of Suffering, and Recovery Forty-six. That’s not so old – young in fact. He and I are both 46, with young children, and in a long term relationship. We both got sober very young and then maintained that sobriety for many years. Mr. Hoffman made it 23-years, and I’m about to reach…
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A Christmas Teaching on Love
It is with joy I discover myself reading about Christ’s two greatest teachings on this Christmas Eve day. The first is to love God with all our heart. If I view this absolute love in a non-dualistic way, this also means to love myself with all my heart. The second teaching is to love your…
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The Technology Horse
The Winter Retreat begins today at Plum Village and in a dharma talk earlier this week, Thich Nhat Hanh makes some very powerful statements about technology as well as giving very specific instructions to those practicing in the Winter Retreat. He uses the ancient story of a person traveling on horseback to ask the question…