A Traditional Buddhist Tale Retold by Teri West Once, in a far-away land, in a time long ago, in a deep forest, lived four friends. They were a jackal — which is a kind of wild dog — an otter, a monkey, and a hare. The four friends lived very…
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I Embrace the Sky
Sometimes, I don't know how I managed to survive those few months in the north of France. At times, I thought death might be better. Every morning around five, I woke up to intense pain in my side. I had to go to the bathroom, where I experienced more pain with the passing of digested…
The Importance of the Dharma Discussion Guidelines
At our weekly Sangha gatherings, we present the Dharma Sharing (Dharma Discussion) Guidelines before each session. Doing so reminds us of our aspiration to listen deeply and to speak mindfully. The Guidelines also provide tools that enable us to build a safe and harmonious environment. Here we can learn to…
Musings on the Retreat at Deer Park From a Complete Novice
By Jim Dudley I have been a Police Officer for over twenty-seven years with the San Francisco Police Department. It is a fulfilling, challenging, rewarding, but sometimes difficult job. I have seen more than my share of violence and human tragedies. I worked two decades of patrol work with time…
Eyes of Compassion
Jim Forest shares stories of working with and learning from Thích Nhất Hạnh in the late 1960s
Dharma Teachers’ Retreat
By Jack Lawlor Shortly after dawn on January 25,1998, seven of Thay's Dharma children serving as lay Dharmacharya in North America concluded their first Dharma teachers' weekend retreat by enjoying outdoor walking meditation among the silent grove of coastal redwoods known as Muir Woods. We don't understand why it took so long for us…
Watering Seeds of Mindfulness
By Peter Matthiessen In late March of 1991, on the way to a retreat for environmentalists to be led by the eminent Vietnamese Zen Master, poet, and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh, I took time for a walk up Malibu Creek, in the Malibu Canyon State Park. Spring songbirds were numerous, and a golden…
Sangha Dot Com
A twenty-first century phenomenon is the “virtual community”—a gathering of people who share a common interest and develop personal relationships, without ever meeting face to face—thanks to the Internet. For practitioners who don’t have easy access to a live Sangha, these virtual solutions can be a blessing—an electronic raft that…
Wholesome Boundaries, Happy Communities
By Dennis Bohn My first exposure to the Fourteen Precepts (as they were called at the time) was in a Barnes and Noble bookstore in Cooper Square in New York’s East Village. I read the First Precept, saw “not be idolatrous or bound to any doctrine, theory or ideology, even…
Always Hug the Dharma!
Sangha Building and Growing Pains By Katie Hammond Holtz It is natural that we will experience growing pains as we go through the stages of life — and the same is true for Sanghas. If we expect our Sangha to fit our ego-definition of “perfect” all the time, we will…