Eeek! Eeek! Eeek! the bird cried. It! It! It! And the world as Peter Coyote had experienced it ended. Forty years after his first sesshin, the actor and writer finally gets the point of Zen. The Rohatsu (Great Cold) sesshin—a week of intensive Zen meditation—takes place in early December ending on the eighth, the day commemorating Buddha’s enlightenment. At Green Gulch Zen [...]
Eight Buddhist Views on the Practice of Politics
Politics and Buddhism might seem antithetical, but in truth Buddhist practice is inherently political. From the July 2004 Lion's Roar, Here are eight views on how to move society along the path to freedom from political suffering. A Buddhist Brawl By Richard Reoch Not so long ago a brawl broke out in a Buddhist shrine room. A close friend of mine was involved. The retreat [...]
Buddhism, Orlando, and the Question of Good and Evil
Hosho Peter Coyote on the unique way Buddhists look at — and co-exist with — good and evil. The mass murders in Florida are a particularly painful reminder of the Buddha’s First Noble Truth: suffering exists. The trauma and suffering of being shot and wounded; having your life terminated (and who knows what waves of regret, frustration, and grief might pass through the [...]
Days of the Diggers
The Diggers were a group of sixties radicals and performers whose formula for building a new society was equal parts utopianism and indulgence. Melvin Mcleod discusses In Sleeping Where I Fall, Peter Coyote remembers his life as a Digger. Shambhala Sun: After reading your book, I found myself haunted by this dedicated, talented, crazy group of people. You don't romanticize [...]