Vulnerability and Compassion
We sat alone and in silence, and ironically that was the beginning of making friends. Our five days and nights of being together started...
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smshige3
Jul 28, 20182 min read
Visiting Taka Kawakami at Shunkoin Temple
On a scorchingly hot and humid day, I visited Shunkoin Temple inside the Myoshinji temple complex in Kyoto at the invitation of Takafumi...
smshige3
Jul 21, 20182 min read
Mindfulness for Monks?
Monks need training in mindfulness? The request to teach the monks at the Zen temple seemed strange at first. But the explanation made...
smshige3
Jul 11, 20181 min read
Forest Bathing 森林浴
Taking off my shoes and walking barefoot on the soft green moss I remembered. It beckoned me to lay down and gaze up through the trees to...
smshige3
Jul 4, 20181 min read
Deliverance at Sanmon 山門
Welcomed to the Enkakuji Temple in Kamakura by Yokota Roshi, I entered the Sanmon 山門 (三門 ), the gate through which pilgrims walk seeking...
smshige3
Jun 29, 20182 min read
Family Roots and Routes
At a gathering of people engaged in Zen 2.0, a Mindfulness project in Kamakura, sharing a Shigematsu family photo taken in 1924, in Kuma...
smshige3
Jun 28, 20181 min read
Tree and Me
Wandering among the temples of Kamakura I came across some old trees that were amazingly scarred and yet still growing. They had obvious...
smshige3
Jun 23, 20182 min read
Stories from Okinawa
Remembering Okinawa today, the 73rd anniversary of the end of the World War II ground battle that claimed over 200,000 lives. Renewing...
smshige3
Jun 17, 20181 min read
Samurai in the Teahouse
Demonstrating how samurai had to bow and remove swords and armor to enter the short, narrow door of the tea house, so experiencing...
smshige3
Jun 6, 20181 min read
A Heartful Way of Living
I recently did a webinar for the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education, a branch of the Center for Contemplative Mind in...
smshige3
May 31, 20182 min read
Creating Harmony Heartfully
In the New York Times, May 28, David Brooks lamented on the "Strange Failure of the Educated Elite," people high in narcissism and low in...
smshige3
May 30, 20182 min read
Responding to Hatred with Dignity and Grace
Roseanne Barr's tweet about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett and the storm that followed has become breaking news. Jarrett, an...
smshige3
May 28, 20181 min read
Floating Lanterns Honor the Departed
I first saw floating lanterns in Hiroshima in a haunting ceremony on August 6 for those who perished from the atomic bombing on that day...
smshige3
May 24, 20181 min read
You are everywhere
Unable to perceive the shape of you I find you all around me Your presence fills my eyes with your love It humbles my heart For you are...
smshige3
May 21, 20182 min read
Tears of beauty, tears of gratitude きれいな涙、感謝の涙
My friend Tomohiro Takei posted a message on Facebook that moved me deeply. I have translated it along with his responses to the comments...
smshige3
May 17, 20182 min read
"The greatest teacher, failure is."
In The Last Jedi, Yoda appears just at the right moment to teach a distressed and utterly disheartened Luke Skywalker. When he addresses...
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