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The eyes of the other
Looking through the eyes of the other is a conscious and intentional practice. It requires a quiet turning of the heart that does not always come easily. Others often impinge on our emotions before we have the chance to find our center. When we are weighed down by personal challenges or a simple lack of…
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On Utility
I spent time wondering what the things I make are meant to be. I looked for a function like a cup or a vase as if they needed a job to be complete. Then a sunbeam caught the corner of my eye and landed on the clay. That soft light showed me that purpose is…
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On Compassion
There is a quiet stillness in a form that knows its own edges, much like the clarity we find when we define our own space. When another person’s behavior triggers a surge of heat or hurt within you, the invitation is to sit with that sharp sensation rather than riding the wave of the emotion.…
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On Acceptance
In the West we are taught to treat the will like a hammer. With enough force any wall can be broken. Determination becomes the highest virtue. Every obstacle is framed as a problem waiting for effort. Where there is a will there is a way. This belief rests on an assumption that every barrier is…
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Ghost cities
The mind is extremely well crafted to draw our attention toward the internal building of ghost cities and castles of interweaved stories that bear little reflection of reality. One notices the contrast so clearly when stepping out of that constructed narrative and into the direct stream of experience. While watching my loved ones enjoy the…
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All forms are empty, all forms are gone.
When I feel the weight of the world, I return to these lines: “All forms are empty, all forms are gone.” Singing these words from the Heart Sutra doesn’t make the hard facts of life disappear. The “clay” of my reality is still solid. But it changes my relationship to it. I stop trying to…
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The Endless Road
-Although the road is endless, I vow to walk it to the very end- In the Zen tradition, this road is endless because it is paved with the very things we try to avoid. The frictions, the weights, and the “winter” of our lives are not obstacles on the road. They are the road. Walking…
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In the midst of winter
Camus wrote that in the midst of winter, he found within himself an invincible summer. My winter began years ago, when a failed surgery left me with a spine that would no longer support me. I found myself living with chronic pain and a disability that became a harsh teacher, stripping away the humble privilege…
Finding the silence in the friction of the road