by Anam Cara Callahan
This piece is an essay on my practice of mindfulness in choosing heart-filled work and the awakening of my inner artist and spiritual master.
by Britton Estep
Vulture Biology is an excerpt from my dharma nature poetry memoir, Signals. Signals is the writing that happened after my father suddenly died in 2010. It is a collection of contemplative stories which detail the nature of impermanence both personally and planetary. When my eyes were opened by the deep sadness I was experiencing, I could not stop looking at just my pain. My previous pronoun boundaries of me, you, and them- all became a blurry mess as the world I had known was wiped clean away.
Grief handed me Buddhism as a way to continue to open my heart.
by Nathan Kross
This poem was written after spending a few weeks at a Catholic monastery in Indiana. I’ve always meditated on the intersection between Christianity and Buddhism, and know that living a compassionate, truth-loving life exceeds all boundaries. This is a story about what I experienced at the monastery — the mystery, the deep silence, and the love.
by Rik Polfliet
It’s a personal aspiration prayer that I wrote in a flash of devout inspiration. I thought I’d share it here and I hope it can be of benefit.
”Just as on a dark night black with clouds,
The sudden lightning glares and all is clearly shown,
Likewise rarely, through the Buddhas’ power,
Virtuous thoughts rise, brief and transient, in the world.”
Shantideva -Bodhicharyavatara (Padmakara translation)
by Jogen Salzberg
A prose piece about practice on a Pacific Coast road trip.
by Rik Polfliet
It is a short contemplation about the fact that I sometimes chase some exotic looking butterfly and stop practicing Dharma for a while. I hope it can be of some benefit.
by Ven. William Van Gordon
These are 4 very short poems that I wrote whilst undertaking a period of solitary meditation retreat. They therefore reflect personal experiences and insights that arose in respect of practices/concepts such as impermenence, interconnectedness, patience and breaking the bonds of ego for example.
by Ven. William Van Gordon
A poem I wrote about my experience of working with a spiritual friend (or Guru). It is entitled ’A Letter to a Teacher’.
by Emily MacDonald
This is a poem for those who need the spark to light their own fires of self love and acceptance. To help those who have forgotten to be here and now.
by Rachael Durham
A poem about the broken relationship between a mother and daughter, that is not yet resolved but the daughter finds peace in the relationship through the practice of meditation.
by Carolee Carlson
This poem arrived while I was challenged in my relationship and suddenly became aware of the beauty of a hydrangea in my company. I find the path of the Dharma to be one of returning to pure beauty in the moment. This endless returning calls me towards greater equanimity. And this poem hopefully paints an authentic example of the vulnerability that is sometimes required in releasing attachments, and becoming less ”careful,” less closed, so that we may show up for the feasts and famines of life.
by Theodore Martland
This poem came to me so quietly while sitting. It was written during a time when I was very much discovering the nature of my characteristically human, dualistic experience.
by Kiley Bednar
This was a poem written while my divorce was pending. I found solace in Pema Chodron’s words: “There is all this drama and then there is the big sky” from ’When Things Fall Apart.’ It is my own recognition of impermanence and the realization that there is big world and we can allow ourselves to be a part of it.
by Heidi Lynch
This is a poem about an experience of my thoughts and feelings about lust and love that occurred while practicing meditation with Buddhist nuns.
by Emily Steele
This is a poem I wrote after reconnecting with an ex-partner recently. I'd been surprised by the depth of love still there, and by the renewed sense of loss. The poem's about how hard it is to sit with intense emotion.
by Don Dianda
A poem commenting on the ’thusness’ of life: how even the darkest of moments, can breed new life.
by Jon Owen
This was written as a companion piece to ”Polishing a Crystal: Reflections on Living in Precepts.”
What can I say is more joyful than creating the virtue of non-harm? Even the great boom of the syllable OM can’t show the true goodness of this most important practice.
by Georges Han
In any life, there are moments when loving kindness manifests itself through our connections with self, living beings, and nature. During an intense period of metta meditation while I was going through a difficult separation from a partner of four years, I wrote a collection of simple poems exploring moments of luminous giving, love, and interconnectedness. Four such poems are presented here.
