Buddhism

  • Remembering Thich That Hanh

    Today I would like to pay respects to Thay. His books had a big impact on me when my mom started having them around the house in the mid 80’s, which was how I started to get interested in Buddhism. Thay gave me the Dharma name Great Patience of the Heart during a 3 week…

  • The Core is Getting Soft.13: Trackball Runs Over Mouse

    People who are interested in gear like to thing big.  Big things, big bucks, big sounds, big….balls, implicitly. But sometimes it’s the little things that get used the most.  While working towards completing my new record with producer Scott Solter, a frequent theme of our conversations has been poking fun at gear hounds who elevate…

  • Studio Samsara

    I found this on Francis Prève‘s Facebook page.  To this I would add step 7, “I am awesome,” and then step 8, “Go back to step 1.”  Then it would be an even better representation of what I like to call “Studio samsara.” The Buddha used the term samsara to refer to the endless cycle…

  • Sunday Paper with the BPF: Ahhh, Mindfulness

    Well, I don’t really read a Sunday newspaper anymore.  Either they’ve been driven out of business by the internet or intellectually eviscerated by corporate centralized ownership.  But I’ve been kicking back and checking out some posts on the Buddhist Peace Fellowship (BPF) website after renewing my membership today.  Among them was a piece with a…

  • Impersonal Problems.1: Thanissara

    We’re used to thinking of problems as a word that goes hand in hand with “personal.”  Of course, there are problems in our professional lives.  But when we struggle with things that happen or come from outside of that realm, we tend to look at them as personal.  I’ve been interested in several articles I…

  • The Core is Getting Soft.9: Ring my Bell

    For many years now, I have been using software in my meditation practice.  In Buddhist meditation, we traditionally open and close each sitting by ringing a bell three times.  One is instructed to follow the sound waves until they subside, providing a gradual transition in and out of the silent state of awareness.  In today’s…

  • R.I.P., M.C.A.2: More Than a Feeling

    I wrote a post on Adam Yauch’s passing in August of 2012 that I thought at the time would be the first in a series on posts on the ironies and interests of the intersection of rock and hip hop with the dharma, but never got around to continuing with it. I pick up the…

  • R.I.P., MCA.1

    I’d like to express my respect for the late MCA’s work by sharing some thoughts his passing brought to mind about an aspect of his life that many of referred to but few focus on at length, which is his interest in and practice of Buddhist teachings.  I didn’t learn about Buddhism from MCA, and…