When All Else Fails, Exhale
Sister Ocean
3 March 2017
I once had a dance teacher who shared with us his trick for ensuring a successful performance: he would rehearse his dance company enough to
The Fiction of the Self: Ruth Ozeki
Caitlin Dwyer
24 February 2017
“Ultimately, all the creative arts are testaments to the foundational truths of Buddhist principles,” says Canadian-American writer Ruth Ozeki. Whether tracing the themes of interdependence
Why Meditate?
Gereon Kopf
27 January 2017
Whenever I teach Japanese Buddhism, whether in the Americas, Europe, or East Asia, I frequently run into the same assumption among students that Buddhists, for
The New Year Is Now
Sister Ocean
30 December 2016
The turning of the year is a natural time to pause and reflect on our lives, be it for the lunar or the Gregorian calendar.
Solidity and Spirituality in the Works of Miya Ando
Meher McArthur
23 December 2016
Miya Ando’s painting Yugen Gold Blue is a Zen koan of sorts. The nocturnal seascape, lit by the hazy glow of a rising moon, is at once a portrait
Buddhistdoor View: Renewing the Joy of Encountering the Other This Festive Season
Buddhistdoor Global
23 December 2016
By now, many of us will have seen the familiar Christmas images in advertisements, on billboards, and behind the glass windows of shops. The scenes
The View from the Top
Sister Ocean
2 December 2016
From the top of a mountain we can see far and wide. We can see the land and the sky. Standing at the meeting point
The Many Forms of Avalokiteshvara
Meher McArthur
25 November 2016
To many practitioners of the Mahayana schools of Buddhism of East Asia and the esoteric traditions of the Himalayas and Japan, bodhisattvas, or “enlightenment beings,”
Buddhistdoor View: How to Be Happily Unhappy
Buddhistdoor Global
25 November 2016
The History Boys (2006), a masterful film adaptation of playwright Alan Bennett’s drama of the same name, has a thoughtful and melancholy ending. The film deploys
A Small and Precious Miracle
Sister Ocean
4 November 2016
My first meditation retreat was in 2004, in Ladakh, northern India, at the far western end of the Himalayas. Our meditation hall was an army
The Buddhist Roots of Japanese Flower Arrangement
Meher McArthur
28 October 2016
One of the most widely practiced of all Japanese art forms is ikebana, or flower arrangement. The word “ikebana” literally means “living flowers,” suggesting that while
Standing Together: Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams’ Radical Dharma – Book Review
Caitlin Dwyer
30 September 2016
Throughout the United States this year, Americans have taken to the streets to protest police violence against unarmed black citizens. Some of these demonstrations have