Outside there’s a radiant Greek sun, but inside there’s work to do. What happens when Bonnie Friedman opens the shutters?
“Zen and the Art of Art: Natalie Goldberg’s Wild Mind School of Writing Practice” — An Excerpt from One Bird, One Stone
For over a year Sean Murphy was on the road conducting interviews with some of the most influential figures in Western Zen.
What’s Your Verdict?
Recognizing the judgments we all pass on ourselves, says Bonnie Friedman, is the first step to freedom.
This Whole World is a Poem
This oriole, this friend, this daughter, this fox—Michael Sowder on all the poems that are just waiting for us to write them down.
Confessions of a Zen Novelist

When bestselling author Ruth Ozeki becomes a Zen priest, she finds out Zen and novel writing do not easily go hand in hand.
Susan Piver on her upcoming writers’ retreat in New York
Buddhadharma caught up with Susan Piver for a couple of questions about writing and meditation.
With Mindfulness You’re Less Likely to Kill the Person Holding Up the Line
Andrea Miller interviews Seth Greenland, author of The Angry Buddhist, about how mindfulness soothed his writing.
Fiction is a lie that illuminates the path to compassion
Mystery, suspense, science fiction – Andrea Miller profiles three Buddhist-inspired novelists who make up stories to tell the truth.
But First the News…

A reporter is a lot like a meditator, says NPR journalist Gerry Hadden. Both are on a quest for truth. And ultimately neither finds it.
The Buddhist’s Vonnegut?
Greg Sumner reflects on the Buddhist themes in Kurt Vonnegut’s writings, fixating on his phrase: If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.