Drinking Alone with the Moon

Drinking Alone Li Bai (also known as Li Po or Li Tai-po) was one of the most celebrated and influential poets in the entire history of Chinese literature. He lived during the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE), which proved to be a golden age for Chinese poetry. His poems are...

Where There is Beauty

The Beauty of the Lake Where There is Beauty… Where there is beauty, there is ugliness.When something is right, something else is wrong.Knowledge and ignorance depend on each other.It has been like this since the beginning.How could it be otherwise now?Wanting...

The Cost of Being

The Challenge of Being The Cost of Being In the quiet of the morning, When the dew weeps unseen, The soul whispers its longing: “Will you rise, or will you dream?” Cheap are the songs sung in comfort, The hands that labor not the clay. But costly is the fire that...

Three Japanese Tanka

Cheery Blossoms as a Japanese Image of Beauty A tanka is a classic form of Japanese poetry with a specific structure – like a Haiku but with two added lines. Such poems  often explore themes of nature, love, longing, sadness, or spiritual reflection. The first...

Queen Mab

Queen Mab What follows is Mercutio’s remarkable description of Queen Mab from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (Act 1, Scene 4) O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you.She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comesIn shape no bigger than an agate...

At The Heart of Buddhism

The Buddha The Four Noble Truths The Four Noble Truths describe the nature of suffering, its cause, its cessation, and the path leading to its cessation. The First Noble Truth: The Truth of Suffering (Dukkha) Suffering is an inherent part of human existence. It arises...