Off the Zafu! Dharma in the World
Winter 1989 Vol. 5 #2
Winter 1989 Vol. 5 #2
Features
As teacher, feminist, ecologist and social activist, Joanna Macy’s work is grounded in the Buddha’s central teaching that all things are interrelated.
Bo Lozoff—called “a con man for God” by Ram Dass—is the colorful and outspoken director of the worldwide Prison-Ashram Project, helping the incarcerated use their time for inner growth.
Larry Rosenberg discusses the role of an urban meditation center and his approach to teaching: “It’s important to sustain mindfulness in daily life AND to do intensive practice, not to set daily life and retreats in opposition.”
While doing research for his Pulitzer-nominated book, Diet For A New America, John Robbins compiled lists of eye-opening facts about the animal foods industry.
Jack Kornfield finds that raising a child can lead to the cultivation of surrender, patience and love—even (or especially) when it takes us to our “very edge of sanity.”
Sharon Salzberg describes the moving experience of teaching meditation in a land where people are tentatively exploring freedom and reclaiming deep aspects of their heritage.
Carole Melkonian writes about a sustained vigil to prevent weapons being shipped to other countries, with firsthand accounts of U.S.–funded violence in Central America that inspired the protest and of peace activist Brian Willson being run over by a munitions train, and an interview with Berkeley Zen Center’s Maylie Scott.
For Ronald Stark, dentistry is a rich environment in which to practice meditative principles—with a sense of humor.
Poems & Not Poems
Insight Meditation News
Sharon Salzberg explains the role of dana in traditional Southeast Asian Buddhism, and the Insight Meditation Society’s founders “nearly conscious” decision to emphasize the “heart-essence of the teachings.”
The Dharma & the Drama
On a trip to the USSR, Wes Nisker sees uncanny parallels between the social upheavals of the American ’60s and the Soviet ’80s. Gorbachev is their John F. Kennedy, and glasnost their New Frontier.