Impermanence
Fall 2000 Vol. 17 #1
Fall 2000 Vol. 17 #1
Introduction
The editors note that the Impermanence issue evolved with an emphasis on the stages of life, especially the process of aging and death.
Features
Joseph Goldstein explains that the three characteristics are not just philosophical statements about the nature of the universe; they are practices.
Scholar Robert A. F. Thurman describes Tibetan practices that emphasize the preciousness of human life and celebrate impermanence.
Ram Dass shares his experience of adjusting to life after accepting “the gift” of a massive stroke.
Richard Mahler speaks with elders at Jubilados, a New Mexico spiritual community for the aging.
Terry Vandiver celebrates her fiftieth birthday and the dawn of a new millennium with a belly dance for the Buddha.
Norman Fischer chronicles the rite-of-passage rituals that he created for, and with, four teenaged boys.
Diana Winston presents a lively roundtable discussion with teenagers who meditate, and thoughts and stories from those who teach them.
Gil Fronsdal reports some interesting findings regarding the teaching of the precepts in the vipassana community.
Poems & Not Poems
Scriptural quotations on impermanence translated from their original Pali by Buddhist scholar Andrew Olendzki.
Reviews
The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi
Reviewed By Ajahn Amaro
(2,080 pp., two volumes, Wisdom Publications, 2000)
Sorrow Mountain: The Journey of a Tibetan Warrior Nun, by Ani Pachen and Adelaide Donnelly
Reviewed By Kate Lila Wheeler
(293 pp., Kodansha International, 2000)
Thunder and Lightning: Cracking Open the Writer’s Craft by Natalie Goldberg
Reviewed By Wendy Johnson
(224 pp., Bantam Books, 2000)
A Mind Readers’ Briefing
Reviewed By Robbie Pfeufer Kahn, Peter Dale Scott, Ronna Kabatznick, Wes Nisker
Short reviews of Safe Harbor: Guidelines, Process and Resources for Ethics and Right Conduct in Buddhist Communities • Verses from the Center • The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Strategies for Managing Your Business and Your Life • An Awakened Life • Finding a Joyful Life in the Heart of Pain • Beautiful Work: A Meditation on Pain • Forest Path
The Dharma & the Drama
Wes Nisker ponders old age, sickness and death: “Once my body began to sink in, so did the truth.”