In his 2010 book The Active Life, acclaimed educator Parker Palmer cites three opportunities for painful growth that any of us are likely to face during our life: disillusionment, dislocation, and unbidden solitude. Zen practice enhances our ability to navigate through these three portals and to adapt to the coronavirus aftershocks that will change our lives in ways imagined by leading thinkers in a March 20 issue of Politico Magazine. “Preparing Ourselves for the Coronovirus for the Sake of Others”

As the pandemic ramps up, with isolation in place, Roshi speaks to the Sangha from his kitchen table.

The current crisis can help us develop a more immediate awareness of the Buddha’s fundamental teaching and encourage us to find our refuge in opening to life as it is.  – Dharma talk by John Pulleyn

Covid-19 is highlighting human contradictions: the dilemma of social distancing vs. social solidarity, as well as the tension between our ignoble reactions (e.g., panic hoarding) and our noble responses (generous helpfulness). Our True Self is neither of these alone.

A Mahayana take: it’s not just about “me” and “my.” Also, some words about worry, stress, and anxiety.

Commentary on Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away: Teachings on Impermanence and the End of Suffering by Ajahn Chan (trans. by Paul Breiter)

Commentary on Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away: Teachings on Impermanence and the End of Suffering by Ajahn Chan (trans. by Paul Breiter)

Commentary on Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away: Teachings on Impermanence and the End of Suffering by Ajahn Chan (trans. by Paul Breiter)

Commentary on Everything Arises, Everything Falls Away: Teachings on Impermanence and the End of Suffering by Ajahn Chan (trans. by Paul Breiter)

The amazing case of the 21st-century “Hermit of Maine (The Stranger in the Woods, by Michael Finkel),” whose 27 years of complete seclusion, in which he survived through burglaries, is not remotely like the solitary meditation of practitioners in Zen and other traditions.