In Zen, there are always two sides. Roshi Bob Kennedy once told us that if you wanted to talk like a Zen master, just add “or not” to every statement you make. The challenge is to see from both sides at the same time. Can you do that? If you can, when you can, when you do, you may be tasting enlightenment. We are all one. There is no separation. Roshi Bernie used to say, “We are all one body.” And we are all, each of us, unique, distinct. Choose just one side and you land i

No one has criticized me or said that I’m a bad person for avoiding the news. They’re intense in their agreement about some horror in the world, some evil doer. Do they care that I’m not joining the conversation? Sometimes, they try to engage me, and I’m forced to admit that I don’t know what they’re talking about. I was never a news junkie, but now I’m weird. For many years I was a partisan, firmly committed to the “good guys,” to the righteous team. You have to take sides.

We associate effort with strain. The strain is extra, almost always unnecessary, and generally a source of suffering. Lose the strain. Ease up on the gas. Driving home from Queens – the traffic is always terrible – sitting in bumper-to-bumper, I realize how less stressful it is to drive 10 miles per hour than 60. We are so often in a hurry. We humans are the only animals that worry about arriving late. Instead of being present, we’re chafing to get to the next step, the nex