Just in time to help sustain individuals, families, and communities in this time of crisis, my new book is now available: Rites to a Good Life: Everyday Rituals of Healing & Transformation. It is the companion book to the long form Rites Of Passage film which should be done within two years. Check out the finished short film here if you haven’t seen it yet.
We’re looking for a few advance readers of the new book. If you’d like to read a free pre-production copy, simply email [email protected] and she’ll send you the pdf or Kindle version. All I ask is to please leave a one to three sentence review here on Amazon; no need for a book report! If nothing else, the book will certainly help deepen your understanding of our present planetary Rite of Passage!
Yes, Happiness is Possible, Even Now!
(On Practice and Enlightenment During a Pandemic)
When you have nothing to do, do nothing!
Frederick Marx
I had a wonderful seven day Zen meditation retreat last week. My Hollow Bones teacher wasn’t there but I listened to podcasts with wonderful Buddhist teachers Stephen Bachelor, Sylvia Boorstein, Robert Thurman, Sharon Salzburg and others. I wish I could have practiced with 20 of my fellow Hollow Bones sangha members, but they too were unavailable. I did the whole thing in my home.
I set up a rigorous schedule which closely followed our typical sesshin (retreat) structure, though it wasn’t quite as strict. I got up “late” – 5:30 – then hit the cushion by 6:00 for Morning Service and my first ZaZen period of the day. I largely alternated walking and sitting meditation periods all day until 9pm, with time out for meals, morning yoga and stretching, afternoon exercise, evening chi gong, and two half hour sessions of work. Email [email protected] if you’d like to download the entire schedule. Read on here…
Speaking of our online group meditation sessions, I recently shared this wonderful video. It’s an amazing Remix of the Heart Sutra – one of the Buddha’s most fundamental and universally renowned teachings – offered to us by a Japanese Zen monk (and mixmaster). It’s delightful. “Tadyatha! Gate, gate, para gate, parasam gate. Bodhi Swaha!”
Check out our brand new two minute trailer for Leaving it on the Land. In solidarity with Black Lives Matter we recently published this one minute excerpt from the film with key subject Malik Scott.
The film has now won three awards and been invited to nine festivals, most recently the New Renaissance Festival in London. Though not yet widely seen, the film continues to dramatically impact viewers…
While filming JOURNEY FROM ZANSKAR in 2004, in that northernmost finger of India, we were told that the Leh to Padum highway, already under construction, would be finished in five years. 16 years later it’s still under construction. But they’re getting there. Building roads and bridges at 12,000 feet through the Zanskar river valley is no small task. One of the key bridges is now complete. The recent photo above is from the commemoration ceremony.
In response to the spirit of need during these times, for a limited time we’re giving away free streaming access to the film! Password: Help Zanskar. Watch, be inspired, and perhaps think to yourself, “Maybe I haven’t got it all that bad…”
Watch the trailer here. If you need a Spanish or French subtitle version contact [email protected]