Archives: LR Articles
This Very Mind, Empty and Luminous
We can see awakening in the world around us, but we can also turn the telescope inward and look directly at our mind.
Melody vs. Meditation
There are two sides to singer-songwriter Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls: the “just sitting” meditator and the crazed composer.
Rethinking Ritual
Review of Zen Ritual: Studies of Zen, Buddhist Theory in Practice, edited by Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright.
Profile: Birken Forest Monastery
David Kirk profiles the Birken Forest Monastery in British Columbia.
Phrases and Spaces
Zen practitioners don’t "work on" koans. Koans work on them. Norman Fischer offers a poet’s take on the phrases and spaces of Zen practice, including his favorite: “Who is sick?”
Mindfulness of Mind
Dispassionately observing what goes on in our mind is one of Buddhism’s central practices, a technique being used to work with mental health.
The Mind-Body Story
Review of The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine by Anne Harrington
Jack’s Blues
Review of Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of On the Road (They're Not What You Think) by John Leland
The Art of Losing
Ruth L. Ozeki's touching memoir is also a profound meditation on love, stories, and the difference between losing and letting go.
The Only Choice is Kindness
“Life is so difficult, how can we be anything but kind”—it was these words that inspired Sylvia Boorstein to follow the Buddhist path.
Prince of the Ascetics
Charles Johnson imagines in this short story the very moment Siddhartha became the Buddha.
The More Things Change
Review of After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings Are Shaping the Future of American Religion by Robert Wuthnow.
More Than Just This Body
Yee offers his thoughts on the power of yoga to bring us back to what’s truly important in our lives and to transform both body and mind.
From OM to AH: The Spiritual Evolution of Allen Ginsberg
Review of Allen Ginsberg’s Buddhist Poetics by Tony Trigilio.
Writers and the War Against Nature
Zen practitioner Gary Snyder traces his lifelong commitment to the environment and calls on all creative people to rise in its defense.
He Has Tried in His Way to Be Free
Leonard Cohen is succeeding. In 2007, Sarah Hampson had a rare opportunity to spend an afternoon with the famed singer and poet.