The accident happened at the worst possible moment, although there is probably never a really good moment for a car accident. I was driving home through the rain, thinking about how much I had to do before I left for my daughter’s college graduation that week. I was thinking about what a difficult week itContinue reading “Car Crash Sutra”
Tag Archives: Seeing
Playing At Meditation
“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens,” wrote Carl Jung. To look into the heart means to remember how we perceived and felt about the world when we were children. On this first day of spring, it seems especially fitting to rememberContinue reading “Playing At Meditation”
Being No Thing
“Love says ‘I am everything.’ Wisdom says ‘I am nothing.‘ Between the two, my life flows,” taught Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. I am not a thing, and this is good news. And although I am limited I have a capacity to feel unlimited, to feel compassionate connection with everything. This is also good news. The badContinue reading “Being No Thing”
Retreating and Advancing
Several times a year, I go on silent meditation retreats. I go to practice solitude in the company of others— withdrawing from the world of striving for a time, mindfully receiving what is given and trusting that more will be given without always leaning forward, grasping for more. “Sati,” the Pali word for mindfulness meansContinue reading “Retreating and Advancing”
The Ones Who Burn
The seraphim angels that ring God’s throne are “the ones who burn.’” This came by text from a friend who spotted the “Burning World” issue of Parabola in a Whole Foods in Pittsburgh. “Why do those closest to God have to burn?” I texted back (my friend has spent the last several years studying ChristianContinue reading “The Ones Who Burn”
Meryl Streep Sutra
On Saturday, I raced from a Buddhist monastery to see Meryl Streep in her landmark portrayal of the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. How could I have guessed that these wildly disparate activities would go so well together? I presented the scholar monk Bhikkhu Bodhi with copies of Parabola’s gorgeous new “Burning World” issue,Continue reading “Meryl Streep Sutra”
Tracy Cochran 