Storytelling
Spring 1994 Vol. 10 #2
Spring 1994 Vol. 10 #2
Introduction
“Once upon a time, once under a time, before digital time, beyond any time at all….” So we begin. So join us.
Features
Full Expression, Full Recognition: A Conversation on Zen and Stories with Reb Anderson
By Barbara Gates, Wes Nisker
Reb Anderson takes us on a delightful journey through tales and reflections, noting that in Zen stories, the most common rhetorical device is irony.
Lama Surya Das explains the importance of storytelling to preserving culture—and regales us with three Tibetan teaching tales: “Milarepa’s Last Testament,” “Death and the Woodcutter,” and “More Proud than a Sow.”
Rafe Martin tells us about the origin and “central genius” of the Jataka tradition — followed by a story about the time the Buddha, incarnated as a parrot, risked his life to save the forest.
Steven V. Smith shares the tale of a legendary Hawaiian surfer who was modern-day bodhisattva.
Theater artist Corey Fischer writes about stories, drawing on both his explorations in Jewish lore and his experience with Buddhist practice.
Frank Ostaseski, founding director of Zen Hospice Project, says that a central task for hospice workers is to be available when stories are ready to be told. “Stories transport us, offer us relief.”
Michael Meade is a cross between a social worker and a shaman, working with story, myth and ritual to both heal and inspire.
Jeff Greenwald visits Snake Lake in Nepal and ponders the slithering uncertainties of life in this excerpt from a novel-in-progress.
In this short story, Kate Wheeler describes the secret morning indulgence—a “dangerous practice”—of a Western bhikkhu in Thailand.
Poems & Not Poems
Judith Stronach compares the couplets in Neruda’s The Book of Questions with the unanswerable questions of children—seeing them all as koans.
In our print issue, Bette Alexander’s images and artist’s statement accompanied the article “The Practice of Storytelling in Tibet” by Lama Surya Das.
Reviews
Random Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty, by Anne Herbert and Margaret Pavel, art by Mayumi Oda
Reviewed By Joanna Macy
(1 page, 7 ½ feet long, 255 words, Volcano Press)
Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life, by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Reviewed By James Baraz
(270 pp., Hyperion)
Three books by Thich Nhat Hanh: The Moon Bamboo, Hermitage Among the Clouds, and A Taste of Earth
Reviewed By Amanita Rosenbush
(179 pp., Parallax Press)
(135 pp., Parallax Press)
(121 pp., Parallax Press)
Sangha Speaks
Jack Kornfield reports on an event that brought together 115 teachers from Zen, Theravada, Pure Land and Vajrayana centers across North America.
Practice
Thich Nhat Hanh’s closing remarks to those attending his Day of Mindfulness at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in October, 1993.
The Dharma & the Drama
Wes Nisker attends a grieving ritual at a weeklong men’s retreat.