Fruit Trees
Mulberry by the Airstream Mulberry fruit I have tried planting pears, peaches, nectarines, apples, plums, and I have never had a single fruit off any of them. One nectarine survives, bent and crippled, and all its fruit end up as dried black mummified corpses. All the others have been ravaged by deer and especially goats. […]
Working Meditation
Does one need to sit in order to meditate? No. Even within Zen there is ‘walking meditation’. But it raises the question of what specifically is the point of sitting. And whether its goals could be achieved in another way, perhaps even more effectively. What are its goals? Undoubtedly there are many opinions here, but […]
What is Wabi-Sabi?
One view – Wabi-Sabi is an aesthetic: “Wabi-sabi is the quintessential Japanese aesthetic. It is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional… It is also two separate words, with related but different meanings. “Wabi” is the kind of […]
The Absolute Difference
Woke up to a turkey family hanging out by the garden – two adults and nine chicks. The very slightest squeak from my screen door and they made a very slow but deliberate beeline for the trees. Physiologically there is doubtless a connection between these wild creatures that welcomed American colonists in the 17th century, […]
Other Dogs, and Dog as Other
Sox is slowly learning not to jump up. She much prefers to have her tummy scratched. Afterwards she sometimes forgets about jumping up, sometimes tries to fit that in too. She is part Blue Heeler, part Great Pyrenees, part Tennessee farm dog (=?), with (it has been suggested) some Belgian Malinois mixed in somewhere. Belgian […]
Planning a Retreat
Zen Temple? Paradise Garden? Meditation Retreat? Healing Center? Wildlife Refuge? Art Farm? Sculpture Park? All of the above? What could YB be? Friends from Green Gulch Farm (San Francisco) came by to advise! This is the kind of building they have there. We marked out possible sites for a zendo (meditation hall), plus dining room […]
Seduction by Scent: Po Lin @ Yellow Bird
I visited Po Lin monastery (home of the world’s biggest Buddha) on Lantau island, HongKong last Fall. More than the megabuddha, I was entranced by the lilies that lined the entrance to the temple.The scent was overwhelming, and a welcome reminder that spirituality and sensuousness need not be at odds. I determined that I would […]
