In the time of coronavirus, I listen to Dharma talks Zoom’ed from the San Francisco Zen Center. This past Sunday, Jiryu from Green Gulch Farm considered the phrase “shelter in place” as a wider spiritual metaphor. In the kitchen at Tassajara, the Zen Center’s mountain monastery near Big Sur, there’s…

Swaddled in comfort, we stood there waiting. The high sun cast over thousands of faces, lines stretched as far as the eye could see. This was the peak event, the Surrealistic Summer Solstice Concert and Grand Lighting, and Golden Gate Park was beautiful. “It’s just, like, I don’t know. I…

She couldn’t lose control. Even dishes needed to be moved in my sink. “Why?” I wanted to ask. I kept holding my tongue. I couldn’t lose control either. In the taqueria line I stipulated that she not ask questions. …

The exercise of free will can be a messy business. This morning I walked to Mission Beach Cafe just after 8:30am and a line had already formed. “Fuckers,” I thought, knowing and not really knowing that this is how it works. They don’t even open till 9. Instinctively, and pridefully…

These are signs of America in distress: Not My America …This American carnage stops right here and stops right now… Impeach the Traitor …the crime and gangs and drugs… If I wanted the government in my pussy I’d fuck a Senator Who are we as a people? What coherence exists…

This poster hangs outside the room I work in. I passed by it many times before the election, but since then it has taken on new meaning. Last Thursday, one of my oldest friends called me and asked if I shouldn’t feel anger. Not only is it morally justified, he…

It’s a warm night, the kind of October warmth that only graces great American cities in uncertain climate times. Alongside my fellow urban prospectors, I bike home satisfied with the day’s work. We ride up and down hills, across Market Street, past countless shops and cafes, through crosswalks well-accommodated to…

Standing in IKEA, questioning significance. The jokes on me kept coming. From Buddhism to bust. Zen and the art of futon shopping. Which aisle is fulfillment on? There’s a permanent sale on attachment to desire in housewares. You can take the elevator. Cafe on level 2. Stay awhile, just don’t…

I was probably bound to confuse Buddhism with another form of self-improvement. When I was young I tried to improve myself by simpler means. I lifted weights, bought name-brand clothes, augmented the stock features of my Nissan Maxima so that I might achieve a higher social status. It worked to…