Blog Posts
Chapter 33 of the Tao Te Ching turns our attention away from accumulating knowledge about the world and back toward knowing ourselves:
Read More“To understand oneself is to be illumined.” — Tao Te Ching, Chapter 33, Arthur Waley translation
Perhaps this is why the teachings become simpler with time.
Eventually, the boundary between practice and life begins to disappear.
We've been told the American Dream is about having more.
A bigger house. A nicer car. More money. More success. More things.
Too often, it has become a life financed by debt and measured by possessions. We spend years working to pay for a lifestyle that leaves us with little time to enjoy the life we were trying to build.
Perhaps it is time to ask a different question.
Read MoreIn her daily reader, “The Three Mountains Way,” author and Zen Buddhist Futsatu Apriel Jessup-Searcy offers us a mindful path for the week. We will start this one today (Sunday) August 16, 2024 and run through the end of the week. The bigger picture for this week is as follows:
· Ujamaa — Cooperative Economics: I circulate energy with care and balance.
Read MoreI have studied and practiced many teachings along this endless path. One truth has remained constant throughout my journey: at the foundation of every great spiritual and religious tradition lies an ethical way of living. Whether we call them the Ten Commandments, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Five Precepts, or simply the Golden Rule, they all point toward the same aspiration—to live in a way that reduces suffering and nurture compassion.
Read MoreIn a world filled with noise, distraction, and constant change, it’s easy to mistake spiritual learning for spiritual living. We read, we listen, we reflect—but the true test of any practice begins when life challenges us.
Spiritual teachings, no matter how profound, remain ideas until they are embodied.
Read MoreI was challenged, by Zen Buddhist Practitioner Fusatsu, to study the Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas. I’m a spirituality nerd so I was all in.
Generally speaking, I did one a day whereby I read it out loud in the morning, again in the evening and I thought about it in between. When I got to the fifth one, I had to stop. It was too important to not give it my complete attention.
Read MoreAt times the world seems so chaotic, as though everything is spinning beyond our control.
These are the moments that invite us to settle more deeply into our practice and remember what truly brings stability.
It is not the things we spend so much of our lives accumulating. Not money. Not possessions. Not status. Not the endless hours devoted to work. These are all temporary, and when we cling to them, they become sources of attachment and suffering.
Read MoreSummer arrives without argument. It does not announce itself with doctrine, but with cicadas in the trees, birds proudly singing their songs, grass rising after rain, the sunlight and humidity resting on us as if it has nowhere else to be.
In this season, once again, nature is our quiet teacher. So many of us are grasping for spiritual lessons hungrily, when our teacher has been here all along. I call her Mother Earth, or Gaia. She has all the intelligence we need, as her offering to us.
Read MoreAs Father's Day arrives, we pause to reflect on the people who helped shape our lives.
For some, this reflection centers on a father. For others, it may be a grandfather, stepfather, uncle, mentor, teacher, coach, elder, or community member who offered guidance, support, and care along the way.
Read MoreWe remember those whose names were never written in history books, yet whose courage lives in us.
Those who endured. Those who resisted. Those who prayed. Those who dreamed of a day they might never see, yet believed would come.
Juneteenth is their story.
And it is ours.
Read More"Freedom is not a destination. It is a practice."
Juneteenth commemorates liberation.
It marks June 19, 1865, when the last enslaved African Americans in Texas were informed of their freedom, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued. It is a day of remembrance, reflection, resilience, and celebration.
Read MoreI am beginning to understand that we all have innate access to wisdom. Some of it comes through study. Some through direct experience. Some through pain, joy, failure, love, loss, and beginning again.
Read MoreA doorway is a promise, but the hallway between them is where our practice is tested.
In Buddhism, we often speak of impermanence — the truth that everything is always
shifting, dissolving, and becoming something new. When one door opens and another closes, we’re reminded of this constant flow.
Read MoreNot only the womb of woman, though this is sacred beyond measure, but the womb of Earth, consciousness, and creation itself. Every tree, every river, every civilization, every dream first begins unseen.
Within the Three Mountains Way, we honor “Mother” not simply as a person, but as a living principle woven through existence.
Mother is the Earth that feeds us.
Mother is intuition beneath the noise.
Mother is compassion, patience, and renewal.
Mother is the creative force through which life continually arises.
The Three Mountains Way teaches us that wisdom is not found at the extremes, but in the balance between them.
Purpose tends to emerge in a very specific space:
When there is enough stability to breathe
Enough challenge to grow
And a sense that our lives are connected to something beyond ourselves
Not overwhelmed.
Not idle.
But engaged.
For many people, this is their favorite time of year. The weather is warmer. The flowers
are blooming and they are starting a vegetable garden. They like the day being longer.
Good Buddhists know you may have springtime allergies or you may not. In Buddhism
we say whether you think the pollen season is good or not depends on how you think
about it, discuss it, and feel about it.
Read MoreThe liberated mind is willing to engage, reflect, and come to understanding through experience. It is not bound by rigid definitions but guided by awareness, discernment, and compassion. It is shaped through relationship—with ourselves, with others, and with the creative force that animates life.
This is not a rejection of tradition, but an invitation to live it fully—through practice, not just belief.
We cultivate this liberation moment by moment, in how we think, act, and show up in the world.
Read MoreEvery morning, we have the opportunity to set the frequency of our vibration for peace of mind, confidence, love, peace, creativity and so much more. By spending your day looking for the good will bring about an increase of good to you. A practice of meditation helps you to set your mind not to react to all that attention getting headlines. When you see yourself being calm and not buying into the latest horror story, you will realize that you are making progress.
Read MoreTo be rooted is to be firmly planted, established, nourished from below, and able to stand through shifting conditions. In the natural world, roots are rarely visible, yet they determine the strength, resilience, and longevity of what grows above the surface. In our lives, rootedness functions in much the same way. It is not loud or performative. It is quiet stability — the unseen foundation from which our actions, choices, and presence arise.
Read MoreThe earth offers us seasons for a reason. If we can tune into the messages the earth is sending us, we can live in alignment with things seen and unseen. For the next couple of months, we are paying close attention to going within. Fear not, the silence is our support.
• Affirmation: "I embrace this season of stillness and allow myself to rest and recharge, trusting that my quiet growth is preparing me for spring renewal".
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