Tibet

Photo blog 11

This is not a spectacular photo, I know, but I wanted to post it in honor of the 75th birthday of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama (6 July). While he is not formally my teacher, I have received teachings from him, including teachings on Tara (the female bodhisattva of compassion, whose Chinese name isContinue reading “Photo blog 11”

Earthquake in Tibet

I’ve been meaning to post this for a few days now: I join His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama in expressing his condolences to the victims of the recent earthquake in Tibet, and I hope he will be allowed to visit the region soon. I will try to post any information on relief efforts andContinue reading “Earthquake in Tibet”

San Francisco and Pop Culture

As I did in New York, I decided to write blog entries about my conference in San Francisco, so my students can see what I’m up to at these conferences (this one over Spring Break no less!). But this time around, my conference hotel is not offering free wireless, so I’m having to write theseContinue reading “San Francisco and Pop Culture”

I’m in Chicago, working on my novel and some short stories and preparing for my reading at PCA/ACA next week while my wife attends an important Intellectual Freedom committee meeting with ALA. I plan to post about my pop-culture conference in San Fransisco, so I had intended to spend this week posting a preview ofContinue reading “Tibet”

Metta to Myanmar

Thynn Thynn, the woman I consider my first formal teacher in Buddhism, is from Burma (technically, Myanmar, but she refers to herself as Burmese). I’ve since shifted my focus to Mahayana practices (and some studies in Vajrayana), but I continually return to Thynn Thynn’s teachings on mindfulness when I feel a need to sit, toContinue reading “Metta to Myanmar”

A note about the profile photo:

My profile photo* is of Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Poor student of Buddhism though I am, the study is important to me, and Tsongkhapa is among my favorite Buddhist poets and teachers. He is considered an incarnation of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom, who is in turn usually considered theContinue reading “A note about the profile photo:”