snow covered peaks

Repost from Buddhist Currents blog: “This short article describes an exchange between W.E.B. Du Bois and B.R. Ambedkar on their feeling of common cause in the fight against anti-Black racism in America and caste and colonial oppression in India. B.R. Ambedkar is important to Buddhism in that he drew on Buddhist teachings (especially, its anti-caste ethics) in…

On Saturday May 30th, 2020 I completed the ceremony to become a lay disciple, publicly taking a teacher – Genko Rainwater. I performed this ceremony with three other lay disciples (students). Around 40 people attended on zoom. They say that the ceremonies are usually public acknowledgements of the relationships that have already existed, and this…

My sangha friend CD asked myself and another member of the prison group to meet with someone who is her potential roommate. We met in a coffee shop downtown, kind of trendy. A lot of 20 somethings. But it was pleasant. Shokei was there too. Jeff had some history. Issues with sobriety. But he was…

Went with R to the Kagyu Changchub Chuling (a Vajrayana Buddhist center in the Tibetan tradition) to hear Lama Rod Owens speak. It was my second time hearing him. He spoke about resiliency. Afterwords we visited from monks from Great Vow Monastery. It was a lovely evening.

I attended the Buddhist Festival in the Park on Saturday. It was lovely to see the diversity of the Buddhist community in Portland. My sangha, Dharma Rain Zen Center was present and stationed by my teacher Genko. Our sister sangha, Bright Way was also there. I spent time with my good friend visiting booths, and…

An intimate portrait of the late American writer and spirited adventurer The explorer, environmentalist and treasured author Peter Matthiessen was the first on filmmaker Rebecca Dreyfus’ wish list to feature in On Meditation, a series of personal shorts exploring the subject alongside other notable deep-thought practitioners including David Lynch. Matthiessen passed away earlier this month,…

Nine Headed Dragon River is Peter Matthiessen’s account of his life with Zen from his first experience in the practice. In the book, he shares sections of his notebooks and diaries to illustrate his Zen trajectory and travels. This section is from the second part of the book and set in Shey, Nepal, from where…