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If it seems as though there is never enough time to accomplish all that we intend to do in a day, perhaps it’s all Benjamin Franklin’s fault. In 1784 he famously declared “Time is money.” His intention was to motivate people to work more and shun “idleness.” He...

“Don’t be a board-carrying fellow.” This expression, sometimes used in Zen, refers to a carpenter carrying a long, wide wooden board on his shoulder, blocking his view in one direction. It is an admonition about seeing the world and ourselves as ordinary and mundane...

Living our life deeply and with happiness, having time to care for our loved ones—this is another kind of success, another kind of power, and it is much more important. – Thich Nhat Hanh When I was in my early 20s and a young Zen student living at the San Francisco...

During a recent retreat I was leading, where the theme was “Accomplishing More By Doing Less” one of the participants was a recently retired physics professor, whom I’ll call Michael. For the past fifteen years Michael’s work had been his primary focus, and he...

There is a story from 13th century Japan about Dogen, the founder of Zen in Japan. As a young man he had a variety of burning questions about life and death and how to live a profoundly meaningful and beneficial life. He couldn’t find anyone in all of Japan who could...

On the subject of change, the Buddhists got it right. Everything changes. Everything is impermanent. Everything that we take for granted is changing, constantly. The formation of the clouds in the sky at this moment is unique and will never be repeated. Every cell in...