“For here there is no place that does not see you. You must change your life.” –– Rainer Maria Rilke, “The Archaic Torso of Apollo” The insight in the last two lines of this poem is meant to wake us up. When he was a young man, Rilke became the personal secretary for the French…

As you will see elsewhere in the newsletter, this month Valley Insight will again join Buddhist sanghas around the world to celebrate Vesak, which marks the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and death––all on one day. This threesome, of course, holds a metaphor for one of the primary understandings pointed out to us in his teachings––anicca, or…

The essay of mine re-issued below was originally published in The Valley Insight Newsletter of March 2019. In September of the same year, it was accepted for publication in the international journal Mindfulness, with the stipulation that it be taken off the Valley Insight website archives for a year. We are now again free to…

“We don’t see the world as it is. We see the world as we are.  We must learn to be the world as it is.” – Anais Nin Most of us have heard the Buddhist teaching about the finger pointing to the moon. In it, we are reminded not to confuse the finger with the…

The key to development along the Buddhist path is repetitive routine guided by inspirational vision. –– Bikkhu Bodhi On Monday November 2, 2020, just a day before the presidential election, a group of us from the Valley Insight community began gathering in our virtual Dharma Hall at 7:30 a.m. each weekday morning for a half…

2020: Its 10,000 Sorrows and 10,000 Joys  “No, Ananda, said the Buddha, Spiritual Friendship is not half the holy life. … When [one] has admirable people as friends, companions, & comrades one has the support needed for bearing that which is unbearable in this life, with wisdom and kindness.”  Upaddha Sutta (SN 45.2) “That which…