Islands in the Stream

“Therefore, Ananda, be islands unto yourselves, refuges unto yourselves….” As he lay dying, the Buddha gave this advice to his beloved disciple Ananda. Most of us are so, so tired of being islands right now, isolated from others, watching video streams. Yet when the Buddha spoke of being an island he didn’t mean being cutContinue reading “Islands in the Stream”

The Beauty of Being All There

One day in downtown Manhattan, I walked behind a man who laughed, block after block. There would be little lulls when the laughter would glide into happy sighs but then a fresh gale of laughter would kick in, sometimes coupled with jogging and even skipping. At first, this public display of wild happiness delighted theContinue reading “The Beauty of Being All There”