Common sense promises made with the knowledge of our diminishing volition are safeguards against the irrational deals we make when we are higher than a kite…especially when we’ve been plucked from the jaws of death-by-drowning.…
It is never too late to adopt the Samurai Way of Life, to abandon old selfish ways, to embrace new principles, and to devote one’s life to being loyal to those principles. Especially after a…
Along with “Cowspiracy” (on Netflix) comes this recent announcement by the WHO about the dangers of foods we frequently eat. Processed meat (and some red meat too such as hamburgers) are put on the top…
Abbot John muses and muses again and seems as routinely unable to reach a conclusion about a mused about subject as ever. But he continues to try. This is why he is called Abbot John.
Firearms and Christianity brought new problems to Shogun Ieyasu which he solved by separation and division. When he died the Shogunate fell to his son and then eight years later to his grandson, the tyrannical…
In this final section of his paternal experience, Da Shi Yao Xin changes a diaper for the first time and finds in the experience a happy connection to Zen’s ancient monastic practice of using the…
Conflict between North and South, introduction of firearms, and foreign religious interference present problems that only an extraordinary man could solve. The Shogun Ieyasu intended to be that man.To attain his goal he calmly resorted…
Japan’s first “Separation of Church and State” long cherished by Americans was accomplished by its first Shogun, (“the barbarian suppressing Commander in Chief”) Yoritomo Minamoto who let the Emperor preside over religious matters in Kyoto…
Muchas veces nos sentimos desgraciados: “¡sólo a mi me pasa esto!” decimos. Sin embargo, cuando miramos a nuestro alrededor y vemos que no estamos sólos, todo se vuelve más fácil.
All great movements have a beginning which fulfills a need. Peasants, being given no armor or weapons when they were sent into battle, had to copy the “attack and defend” techniques of birds, insects, and…
Deliverance Day finally arrives for Da Shi Yao Xin. In Part V, A Tiger in the Belgian Forest, he tells us how it feels to suddenly become the dad of an adorable tiger cub, a.k.a.…
