Once Upon a Time: Stories & Poems of the Dharma
Spring 2013 Vol. 29 #2
Spring 2013 Vol. 29 #2
Introduction
Susan Moon and Barbara Gates talk about the value of stories—and tell a few themselves.
Features
Patrick McMahon in conversation with Pico Iyer—novelist, essayist, journalist and travel writer whose writing explores both the outer and inner world at once.
Bhikkhu Bodhi draws from the Buddha’s discourses to expose the delusive nature of the “self.”
Jane Hirshfield and Susan Moon explore intersection of poetry with dharma and the sacred.
As Susan Murphy sees it, stories hold us together—and also hold us in our letting go.
Barbara Gates meditates on the intertwining signatures of home, of community, of impermanence and perseverance.
. . . . . SUFFERING—Stories & Poems
“Man down!” Being wheeled to an ambulance, a Buddhist death-row inmate sees the night sky for the first time in over thirty years.
A short story about the “bittersweet opportunity” of reconciliation.
. . . . . IMPERMANENCE—Stories & Poems
A story that begins with “large twin undertakers . . . taking their sweet time.”
A story in the form of a poem, about love and death.
An epic depicting the kindly death of a cave-dwelling hermit. Gomchen is Tibetan for a “great meditator.”
. . . . . NO FIXED SELF—Stories & Poems
An excerpt from Death: The End of Self-Improvement, a work in progress.
There are words within words / and dreams within dreams . . . A short poem
“Be interested in whatever is happening!” –Sayadaw U Tejaniya
It’s the relationship between the void and avoid... A short poem.
These two short pieces are early products of an ongoing project, Selling Water by the River: Desert Koans.
Poems & Not Poems
Leaning against the rocks . . .
. . . the winter light is a carrot // I pull from the garden . . .
Reviews
The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Aṅguttara Nikāya, by Bhikkhu Bodhi
Reviewed By Guy Armstrong
(1,924 pp., Wisdom Publications, 2012)
Minding the Earth, Mending the World: The Offer We Can No Longer Refuse, by Susan Murphy
Reviewed By David Loy
(288 pp., PicadorAustralia/Kindle Edition e-book, 2012)
(144 pp., Shambhala, 2012)
Mindful Birthing: Training the Mind, Body, and Heart for Childbirth and Beyond, by Nancy Bardacke
Reviewed By Jason Marsh
(359 pp., HarperOne, 2012)
(47 pp., Bootstrap Press, 2012)
The Art of Haiku: Its History Through Poems and Paintings by Japanese Masters, by Stephen Addiss
Reviewed By Wes Nisker
(338 pp., Shambhala Publications, 2012)
Everything is Broken, by Alan Senauke
Reviewed By Bob Levitt
(54:49 min., Clear View Project Discs, 2012)
Practice
The Dharma & The Drama
The one story is your story . . . and my story too. It is also the story of everything.