Thoughts on an Old Friend

Volume 72. February 2, 2026

Sitting here in the dead of winter, pondering the eternal verities, beneath a moon for the misbegotten, I thought of an old friend, someone I love very, very much.

It’s hard to describe my friend. It would take too many words.

When I open my mouth and talk, differences arise between us.

But when I stop thinking, we’re in perfect harmony.

My friend is secret, hidden, but totally open and absolutely clear.

No saint can teach, nor demon can frighten, my friend.

Oddly enough, all the Buddhas who attain nirvana know my friend.

The sorrowful seas of samsara and the bliss of the Yonder Shore — my friend knows it’s all the same.

Who is this old friend who has been with me through thick and thin, since the day I was born?

Who woke up to the world with me as a babe in my mother’s arms?

Who played with me as a toddler when we built a ship upon the stairs using cushions and blankets?

Who learned skills with me like reading, writing and arithmetic in elementary school?

Who searched for an identity through awkward teenage trends?

Who loved a woman and worked in the world?

Who helped others find their path in life?

Who, like a counselor, told me that I am all and all is me?

Who I assume will be there sitting soul-like on my deathbed, holding my hand, looking back on life?

Who is this boon companion who never left my side?

Who, when approached, runs away?

Who, when ignored, comes very close?

Who is this old friend, loyal and true?

It’s me.

My true self.

The no-self.

My old friend,

Buddha-nature.

There’s no difference between me and my friend.

We are like a great mirror reflecting daily experience.

We are difficult, very difficult, to put a finger on.

Yet we’re easy, very easy, to experience firsthand.

I’d like to tell you more about us, but it’s best to say nothing at all.

The True Master of the Universe

Volume 71. January 9, 2026

Well, well, well. Heading into the new year, who would have thought Marco Rubio would be the Viceroy of Venezuela and Donald Trump would be the Emperor of the Western Hemisphere?

But here we are.

Citizens of Greenland, Cuba, Columbia, Mexico and even Canada, are concerned, quaking in their boots, fearing the rapacious power of the imperial U.S. presidency.

Despite their lofty titles and expansive land claims, however, Trump et al. are no match for the true Master of the Universe: Buddha-nature.

Japanese Zen master Hakuin put all arrogant tyrants in their place and nullified their greedy usurpations way back in the 18th century when he stated Dharma truth this way:

He rules a vast realm, Unremitting Buddha-nature,

A splendid, pristine landscape, fresh day after day.

Kuan-ting, second patriarch of the T’ien-t’ai school in China, stated Dharma truth even more succinctly in the 7th century:

There is nothing that is not the ultimate reality!

From the most piddling stinkbug crawling in a barnyard dungheap to the most glorious star system beyond the Andromeda Galaxy, all things are manifestations of Buddha-nature.

How do we enter this infinite, everlasting realm?

Easily, through meditation.

Find a quiet spot. Sit with your back straight. Focus on the breath. Dispel evil thoughts. Discard fantasies. Avoid conceptualization. Rest in the Great Calming alone. Identify all things with Buddha- nature. Be confident that there is nothing that is not the Buddha. Dwell where there is no dwelling. Dwell where all Buddhas dwell.

And that’s it!

The immanence of Buddha-nature is both the departure point and the point of arrival in meditation.

For thousands of years, teachers have passed on this teaching.

But begin to ponder it, even slightly, and you at once stray from the Path.

Contemplating the mind gives rise to the Mahayana, the big ferry boat that carries us across the sorrowful seas of samara to the bliss of the Yonder Shore.

Let the Mahayana achieve its victory.

Reach the state beyond thought.

Buddha-nature is not simply everywhere. It’s everything.

Citizens of Greenland, Cuba and Columbia, set aside your fears!

A mind grounded in meditation experiences no distress.

Don’t let a “splendid, pristine landscape, fresh day after day,” become sullied with fear, anger and rational thought, or else you will never enjoy the happy new year.

Be Good For Goodness Sake

Volume 70. December 12, 2025

You better watch out. You better not cry.

You better not pout. I’m telling you why.

Santa Claus is coming to town.

Santa Claus might be coming to town for some people, but not for the vast majority of the U.S. population.

Federal Reserve data (2024) indicates that enormous financial wealth is concentrated in the hands of a tiny number of people.

In fact, the top 1% hold around 30% of all U.S. household wealth, while the top 10% control even more, nearing 85%.

It’s stunning, astonishing really, that such a small segment of the population controls nearly all the wealth of our nation.

One danger of this financial inequality is political. The aristocracy has leveraged its immense wealth into political power. The super rich are the de facto rulers of our country — a death knell for democracy.

The real danger of being massively wealthy, however, is spiritual. You become selfish, greedy and attached. And, as the Buddha points out in his Second Truth, attachment causes suffering.

Perhaps a story might illustrate.

Once upon a time, the emperor of China revered a Buddhist priest. The emperor thought so highly of him that he ceded to the priest great wealth and unprecedented power.

The priest became full of himself, puffed up with pride at his prestige. He no longer bothered upholding Buddhist precepts.

When the priest died, he was reborn as a large ox, tearfully pulling carts through the mud, drooling gobs of slobber from his mouth.

When his master spotted him, he rebuked his student for receiving this karmic retribution. The master scolded him, saying, “Look at you! How shameful! You went from wise to foolish overnight. Frittering away your virtue like that! Indulging in selfish fantasies! What were you thinking! Do you still wish to deny the karmic law of moral causality?”

The ox bellowed dolefully. The End

My friends, American aristocrats may have their wealth, but we have our benevolence. They may have their exalted ranks, but we have our integrity.

Philosophers down the ages, from Plato to Aristotle to Kant and Confucius, disagree on metaphysics, epistemology and politics, but — incredibly — they all agree on one thing: morality.

They all agree that virtuous behavior is the only road to happiness.

Virtue is its own reward. Be good for goodness sake.

Comport yourself as if you are in daily attendance on the Buddha.

Accumulate merit and the whole world will hold you in respect.

Why do this? Because …

He’s making a list. He’s checking it twice.

He’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.

Santa Claus is coming to town.

One Step Beyond Thanksgiving

Volume 69. November 25, 2025

Medieval German mystic Meister Eckhart long ago offered some good spiritual advice: “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.”

He makes a valid point. Gratitude is essential for human happiness and spiritual well-being. The truly wise, however, go one step beyond gratitude.

Perhaps a story might illustrate.

One enchanted evening, in old China, a Buddhist priest witnessed a wondrous sight in a lonely graveyard.

He beheld a beautiful goddess praying before a pile of bones. She wore a jeweled crown upon her head and silk slippers on her feet. Her necklace and arm bangles tinkled softly with precious gems. Her body emitted a sweet flowerlike fragrance.

Auspicious clouds of pastel pink and purple floated above her head. The grove of trees surrounding her glowed with celestial light.

Taken aback, the priest approached the radiant being. He said,

“Oh holy one, I feel highly favored to gaze upon thy sublime form. But why have you chosen to appear in this hideous boneyard? Why do you bow in homage before this pile of stinking bones, which are more wretched and worthless than wood chips?”

The goddess replied, “Come closer and I will answer you.”

The priest drew beside her and she told her tale.

“I was born into a poor family — the poorest of the poor. There wasn’t even a roof over our heads let alone rice to fill our starving bellies. Yet, undaunted by destitution, I practiced good acts. Because of my meritorious deeds, I attained a fortunate rebirth as a goddess in heaven after I died. But when I walked the earth as a human being, this pile of bones was my body. Every autumn I come here in thanksgiving to express my gratitude for it.”

Suddenly, she vanished into the clouds and mist, leaving behind only the plaintive cries of the autumn insects.

Later that evening, the priest contemplated the vision. He felt ashamed that he was remiss in his duty to inform her that even a goddess in heaven will eventually decay and die.

Under the moon, he meditated. Emerging from the Great Silence, he brushed with ink the following verse:

Instead of thanking her old bones,

Why doesn’t she grasp the mind that thanks them?

How priceless is the mind that does the thanking.

That mind is the mind of all the Buddhas.

In Buddhism, heaven is not the goal. The goal is nirvana.

Good deeds get you to heaven. Meditation brings you nirvana.

The mind-source deep within you is a precious thing. Be ye god or demon, it can ferry you across heaven, hell or any state of being.

Of course, if the practice of meditation is beyond one’s capability, then pause and sincerely say “thank you.” That will suffice.

Wake Up From The Nightmare

Volume 68. October 8, 2025

Halloween is just around the corner. ’Tis the season of goblins, ghouls and hell on earth. Cometh October, cometh the nightmare.

Unfortunately, our bad dream started in September. Take a look at a few examples.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth convened a rare assembly of the military’s top brass to impart an extremely important message: Lose weight and shave your beards.

“It’s about the look,” he said.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr issued an ultimatum to ABC regarding the content of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show, stating, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

Critics called Carr’s threat a dangerous attack on free speech.

Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan indicted former FBI Director James Comey on two criminal counts. Lindsey, a former personal lawyer for Donald Trump, was appointed to the job (by Trump) after no self-respecting attorney would sign off on the charges.

Question: What happens when a grandiose narcissist with no capacity for human kindness is given unlimited presidential power and immunity from any abuse of that power?

Answer: He surrounds himself with incompetent sycophants, exacts revenge on his “enemies,” and lets the bad times roll.

And here we are. Nightmare Town.

Buddhism seems to say, “Who wouldn’t want to wake up from a nightmare?”

In Buddhism, we wake up to an experience of Buddha-nature.

We are here forever in one form or another, but while we are human, we have an important task: Wake up! Become a Buddha! Achieve enlightenment!

If you don’t keep your mind pure and free from thoughts, if you don’t act kindly and consider the welfare of others, if you don’t appreciate the transience of life and the impermanence of time, you’re only a yakking fool.

Consider the following story.

One day, in medieval Japan, a Buddhist priest performed funeral rites for a monk.

He said, “In the seven days since the death of this virtuous monk, loneliness has deepened over the Zen gardens. His gentle disposition and humility made all who knew him regard him as their elder brother. His kindness and sincerity made all who met him wish to become his friend. We miss him dearly.”

The next day the priest presided at the funeral of the shogun. He offered these words in eulogy: “That old coot was as hard as flint, ruthless to the core, as venomous as they come. Even the Buddhas and the patriarchs found him impossible to endure.”

One man woke up to Buddha-nature. The other did not.

This Halloween let’s take off our mask and let our True Self shine.

Otherwise, it’s back to the nightmare.

Call Out The National Guard?

Volume 67. September 1, 2025

Lo, the Buddha peered into the Gem of Suchness and saw …

National Guard soldiers, toting firearms and billy clubs, looking for trouble, menacingly prowling the streets of Washington D.C.

What is their job? Why are they here? No one really knows.

There’s no rampant crime. There is no widespread violence. There is no emergency of any sort in our nation’s capital.

Thug-like, the guardsmen walk around town scaring tourists and intimidating office workers.

Critics bewail a military occupation of an American city. Khaki- clad soldiers are not allowed to conduct domestic law enforcement.

One critic labeled the spectacle “a fascist fashion show.”

What in the Pure Land is going on here?

The president of the United States apparently has manufactured a crisis out of thin air and called in the troops to quell it. But, in reality, there is no crisis.

Believe it or not, that’s exactly what our highly exalted, rational mind does every minute of the day.

It conceptualizes. It names. It categorizes. It befouls reality.

Attached to the pollution, our mind creates an imaginary crisis.

If our thoughts are tied up, we spoil what is genuine.

What’s the solution — besides wine and anti-depressants?

Well, Buddhism advocates meditation.

Slow down. Relax. Breath.

Instead of purifying the mind-pollution, let it be.

When thoughts rise up, don’t repress them. Don’t attach to them.

Don’t interfere with them. Let them be.

Then, Buddha-nature appears. Buddha-nature is ever-present.

It’s your true nature.

By doing nothing, we achieve everything.

So, do we even need meditation?

Saraha, an 8th century Indian Buddhist tantric adept, thought not.

He is considered to be one of the founders of Vajrayana Buddhism.

In his song of realization, Saraha wrote:

If the Truth is already manifest, what’s the use of meditation?

Abide in the bliss of yourself.

Whatever you see, that is it,

In front, behind, and in every direction!

In other words, why defile what is already pure?

Peer into the Gem of Suchness. Behold Buddha-nature.

Experience the “Everything-Is-Alrightness” of the universe.

Don’t call out the National Guard for an imaginary crisis.

Call out the National Guard for the Dharma.

After The Darkness Comes The Light

Volume 66. August 4, 2025

On July 22, 2025, the Prince of Darkness departed our world.

Alas, Ozzy Osbourne, lead singer of Black Sabbath, sings no more.

After an iconic career and a triumphant final performance in his hometown of Birmingham, England, Ozzy left behind six children, a grieving widow and legions of fans worldwide.

His passing calls to mind a little story.

One evening, a Buddhist priest meditated alone in a graveyard.

Bathed in moonlight, the priest smelled a malodorous breeze.

He opened his eyes, and there amidst the lonely tombstones he saw a hungry ghost savagely beating a corpse.

With hawk-like fury glowering in its eyes, the ghost thrashed the corpse mercilessly, its anger fomenting to a feverous pitch.

Trembling, the priest asked, “Who are you? Why do you act with such demonic passion? What grave injustice are you avenging?”

The ghost paused, burst into tears, and then told its bitter tale.

“I am a ghost in evil destiny. This corpse was my body.

In life, I was a man of considerable wealth and fame, a womanizer devoted to the pleasures of the flesh. Thinking only of myself and my immediate needs, I lied to people, ignored wisdom and never showed kindness to anyone, including my own mother.

When I died, I fell into this accursed form you see, doomed to walk endlessly in cavelike darkness, enduring frightful torments.

And all because of that stinking corpse rotting here before you.

Oh, those hateful bones!

They caused me such pain in life. My hatred for them is unceasing.

Every night I come here and thrash at them.”

Flushed with tears, choked with remorse, the ghost spoke no more.

It only uttered heart-rending cries.

“Woe! Woe! Woe!”

The End

In contrast to that hungry ghost, Ozzy Osbourne died a happy man.

In a 2023 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Ozzy explained that, despite the debilitating effects of his Parkinson’s disease, he longed to perform one more show to express his love and gratitude to his fans, who had supported him for decades.

Quoth the Prince of Darkness, “I just want to be well enough to do one show where I can say, ‘Hi guys, thanks so much for my life.’

And if I drop down dead at the end of it, I will die a happy man.”

Seventeen days after his final show in Birmingham, he did just that.

So, how can we too avoid an evil destiny and die a happy death, like Ozzy Osbourne?

Very easily.

Live the virtuous life. Do good. Avoid evil. Keep your mind pure.

This is the teaching of the Buddha.

Summertime is Family Time

Volume 65. July 6, 2025

Summer is the perfect time for family get-togethers.

Cooking outdoors, eating ice cream and engaging in enjoyable conversation are satisfying family bonding experiences.

For the deep thinkers among us, however, there always seems to be a niggling question: Who exactly is my family?

Jesus had a insightful answer. The story goes like this.

While Jesus was talking to a crowded room, his mother and brothers stood outside the door, wanting to speak to him.

Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”

Jesus replied, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is brother and sister and mother to me.”

As Jesus makes clear, when we get beyond our ego and seek a higher reality, we are on the path of wisdom.

So, how does the Buddha handle this familial question?

The answer is found in an influential work from the Mahayana canon, the Vimalakirti Sutra. It was written about the same time as the Christian gospels, in the first century of the Common Era.

Like Jesus, Vimalakirti was an enlightened being come down from heaven to teach spiritual wisdom. Unlike Jesus, Vimalakirti was a wealthy layman and a friend of the Buddha.

One day Vimalakirti was asked, “Layman, your father and mother, wife and children, relatives and friends — who are they?”

Vimalakirti replied, “Wisdom is my mother. Skillful means which relieve people from suffering and lead them to enlightenment are my father. Dharma joy is my wife. Compassion are my daughters. Sincerity are my sons. Tranquility is my dwelling. The elements of the Way are my friends. Virtue is my companion.”

Do we see a pattern here?

For those on the spiritual path, traditional terms for relatives are inadequate because all human beings are part of our family.

Our country is currently embroiled in a bitter battle over the treatment of immigrants. One side sees them as criminals. The other side sees them as members of our human family.

Treating immigrants with cruelty shows the despicable behavior of an unethical, non-spiritual mind.

Ultimately, both sides want the same thing: peace.

How do we get there?

Roman Catholic Saint Mother Teresa spoke for Vimalakirti when she gave this advice: “What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.”

So, bro, sis, amigo, anyone up for a cookout this summer?

Everyday People and the True Dharma Eye

Volume 64. June 13, 2025

Sing it with me: “Ooh, sha-sha. We got to live together!”

Sly and the Family Stone enjoyed a chart-topping single (“Everyday People”) in 1969 that proclaimed a musical vision of human equality.

The song’s verses mocked the futility of people hating each other for being tall, short, rich, poor, fat, skinny, white or black, while its exuberant refrain declared, “I am everyday people.”

Sly Stone died on June 9 in Los Angeles. In an ironic coincidence, his idealism was reincarnated in anti-ICE protests that began in Los Angeles and have spread across the country.

Hundreds of thousands of everyday people have marched to decry the Trump administration’s heavy-handed immigration crackdown.

The impasse between immigrant-haters versus upholders of human dignity seems unbridgeable. How can we live together?

Buddhism points the way with a simple analogy.

Consider a coin. One side is covered with an infinite number of dots representing the endless dualisms that make up our world: tall/short, rich/poor, black/white. This is the world of samsara.

Now turn the coin over. The other side is completely blank. All things are identical and non-dual. This is the world of nirvana.

The two worlds are one world. Everything present on the busy side of the coin is encompassed within the blank side. In the non-dual world of nirvana, distinctions are wiped out.

Because of this underlying unity, all things share in one another’s non-dual identity.

All things are Buddha-nature.

Watching the news, we become engrossed in dualistic distinctions: National Guard/protesters, immigrants/citizens, right/wrong, ICE agents/deported husbands, smug presidents/weeping mothers.

When seen with the True Dharma Eye, we behold all these dualistic distinctions as one.

It’s all Buddha-nature.

Bodhidharma, the legendary founder of the Zen school, phrased Buddhist truth this way:

When your mind doesn’t arise inside,

the world doesn’t arise outside.

Buddhism offers an outlook that balances samsara and nirvana, dualism and non-dualism — two contradictory views of reality — and prevents either side from becoming too dominant.

Buddhism is the Middle Way. It takes the path between extremes.

The doctrine of non-duality helps us view the world in its proper perspective. The world is one despite its noxious differences.

When we avail ourselves of the True Dharma Eye, we do not abandon the world, but we do see the world in its purity.

At that point, we bickering humans can come together in harmony, like Sly Stone’s multi-racial, multi-gender band. Despite our differences, we too can make beautiful music together.

“Ooh, sha-sha.”

Connect with Spring

Volume 63. May 15, 2025

American modernist poet E. E. Cummings once asked:

O sweet spontaneous Earth, how often have the doting fingers of prurient philosophers pinched and poked thee?

How often has the naughty thumb of science prodded thy beauty?

How often have religions taken thee upon their scraggy knees squeezing and buffeting thee that thou might conceive gods?

Thou answer them only with — Spring.

Spring, ah, Spring. Our rhythmic lover has returned in all her glory.

The warm breezes. The tootling birds. The fragrant blossoms.

Why think? Why pinch? Why prod? Why analyze? Just breath.

Connect with Mother Earth.

Buddhism teaches that connections are vital to one’s well-being.

Perhaps a story may illustrate.

Long ago there lived a lonely elephant. Hoping to find a friend, he crossed grasslands, deep rivers and high hills. Despite his efforts, he could not find a companion anywhere.

Discouraged, he came to rest beside a quiet lake. He stared at his reflection in the water. He felt so lonesome he wanted to hand in his lunch pail and go to that elephant graveyard in the sky.

But then the still waters moved. A turtle emerged from the depths. It paddled over to the shore and asked the unhappy pachyderm, “Why so glum, chum?”

The elephant wailed, “I feel so lonely I could die.”

The turtle said, “My flap-eared fool, tune into the world around you. Listen to the wind. Feel the sunshine. Smell the flowers. Connect with the trees. Connect with your breath. Connect with your thoughts and feelings.”

The elephant focused on his surroundings. He listened to the wind rustling through the trees. He felt the warm sunshine on his skin. He followed his breath, slowly inhaling and exhaling. He observed his thoughts and feelings come and go like passing clouds.

Connected to himself and to the world around him, the elephant realized he was not really lonely at all. He felt alive and happy.

From that day on, the elephant lived in harmony with himself and his surroundings and never felt lonesome again. The End.

What’s the moral of the story?

Loneliness is not the absence of companions but the absence of connections.

All things are interconnected. Plants, animals and human beings depend on each other and live together in one grand, glorious web.

You exist; therefore, I exist.

When we disconnect from the web, we cause needless suffering.

When we connect with people, plants and animals, we thrive.

How can we make connections?

Spring, our cheerful goddess, is here to help.