Dharma Talk: Finding Our True Heritage
By Thich Nhat Hanh in September 1993
We all wish to return to a place where we truly belong, where we feel happy and at peace. Most of the time we feel lost, as though we are living in exile. People all over the world feel this…
From the Editors
Published in September 1993
To hear that someone's life has been affected by our efforts is "the greatest happiness" for us. We surely do appreciate your letters (pages 37 - 39) and well wishes. We have spent most of the past year planning and organizing for Thich…
Poem: Our True Heritage
Published in September 1993
The cosmos is filled with precious gems.I want to offer a handful of them to you this morning.Each moment you are alive is a gem,shining through and containing Earth and sky,water and clouds. It needs you to breathe gentlyfor the…
Other articles in this issue
Writing Down the Roots
By Natalie Goldberg After four years at the Minnesota Zen Center, during a seven-day sesshin, I went to Katagiri Roshi. "You know, the more I sit, the more Jewish I'm feeling." "That…
Drawing from the Well
By Nancy Hawley My brother, sister, and I decided to meet with my aging parents to discuss this stage of our life as a family. As we sat together discussing health proxies,…
One Couple, Many Roots
A Traveling Jewish Theatre "You left with nothing, right? You got on a ship and you went. And maybe all you had was what you were wearing. Maybe you gave birth on…
Beach Cleaning Meditation
By Penelope Thompson Several months ago, our small sangha met at the beach for a morning of mindfulness. First we sat together, then we did forty-five minutes of "cleaning the beach meditation."…
Mindfulness at Work
By Jorgen Hannibal Recently, as a medical doctor in Sweden, I was on-call for twenty-four hours in the emergency room. At some point, I was eating my lunch, and I became aware…
Curse Turned Companion
By Alan Cutter Last November, Arnie Kotler, and Therese Fitzgerald, and Claude Thomas came to share a Day of Mindfulness with a group of Vietnam veteran ministers. We could all sit, but walking…
Recovery of Oneself
By Mack Paul Despite the poor rewards and aggravations of teaching, I've always been attracted to the work. The kids are vibrant, and underneath their veneer of adolescent crudity, they are often heartbreakingly…
A Real “Good Morning”
By Laura Siegel My heart was filled with joy as I walked my dog one March morning. The sun was warm and bright, my steps light, and my pockets were filled with…
Poem: The World Today
By Bruce Ho Sun shines brighter than the sky.It bursts through the clouds.Capture it in your hand.Turn the world round and round.It's time to look around you.See the land change…
Reading Each Other
By Peter Levitt Recently, as part of a book tour, I was scheduled to be interviewed on a National Public Radio affiliate station. Before heading to the station, I called in to…
Poem: Poetry
Let poetry runthrough the branches of freedom,and outthrough the roots of happiness. Bruce Ho is ten years old and lives with his family in San Antonio, Texas
One Child at a Time
By Lisa Benitez I had a dream in which hundreds of eyes were looking at me. A voice said, "These are the eyes of the children of the world. Never turn away…
Who Decides Suitability?
By R.A. Poolman Ten years ago, after our house was broken into, I phoned the dogs' refuge home to ask whether it was wise to adopt a larger, mature dog. I was…
The Courage To Heal
By Anneke Brinkerink Imagine you are eleven years old. Your grandfather—the one you love and trust most in life—is with you. He wants to touch you all over. What would you do?…
Working On How I Work
By Eveline Beumkes Since I first invited Sister Jina to come to Holland, after I moved from Plum Village to Amsterdam, my life has been filled with "organizing sangha" activities. I have…
Political Harmony
By Mitchell Thomashow As breath is to meditation, listening and speaking are to politics. It is through ordinary discussion that our ideas, opinions, and interests are expressed. Throughout the day, we have countless…
Ancient Time in a Shark’s Tooth
By Thomas Urquhart Suddenly, there it was: a fossil shark's tooth, a perfect shape amidst the chaos of sand and shells. In that instant, I felt the fulfillment of a lifetime of…
The Listening Project
By Herb Walters To seek the light in all, whether foe or friend, is a challenge that calls us to do what might be unpopular—to care about someone who hurts others. It…
Peacemaking as Healing
By Gene Knudsen-Hoffman In the stillness is the place from which action comes that heals. In October 1990, I traveled to Tunisia to talk with Yasser Arafat and other top PLO…
Writing out the War
By Therese Fitzgerald The UC Berkeley campus hosted an event for war veterans entirely different from the days of dualistic rallies. Thirty men and women, mostly Vietnam veterans, gathered in a spacious, woodsy…
In Russia with Love
By Therese Fitzgerald At the end of the September retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh in Moscow, Thay told the group, "In six months, Arnie and Therese will come back to lead another…
Touching Roots in Vietnam
By Cynthia Jurs In November 1992, Sister Annabel, Joan Halifax, Hugh Wheir, and I went to Vietnam on a pilgrimage to the Buddhist sacred places in the north and to visit Thay's homeland…
Deep Flavors of Goodness
By Joan Halifax
Hanoi was amazing with its sea of bicycles, blue haze of coal smoke, wide tree-lined avenues, decaying French colonial buildings, people dressed in Vietcong fatigues or cheap, high-style French garb, cigarettes and all.…
Come Close
By Sister Chan Khong
During the past ten years, I have shared with my friends the art of transforming internal suffering from our childhood and of our past into wholesome seeds. Thanks to this work, I can…
Religious Freedom Special Alert
By Stephen Denney On August 3,1993, the Vietnamese government issued a four-point order instructing Ven. Thich Huyen Quang to refrain from all protests against the government's religious policy and to surrender the seal…
Announcements
New Retreat Centers Ordinary Dharma in southern California and the Houston Zen Community are both in the process or purchasing country land for retreat centers. Ordinary Dharma has found property about two hours…
Poem: The Old Mendicant
By Thich Nhat Hanh
Being rock, being gas, being mist, being Mind,being the mesons travelling among the galaxies at the speed of light,you have come here, my beloved.And your blue eyes shine, so beautiful,…
Letters to the Bell
Your newsletter has been important to us and a group of our friends who sit and breathe together. We share every issue. I have been a student of Patricia Dai-En Bennage of…
