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This Evening Gatha is chanted during a sesshin at the conclusion of each evening sitting. Let me respectfully remind you Life and death are of supreme importance Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost Each of us should strive to awaken, awaken Take heed, this night your days are diminished by one Do not […]

Not Your Typical Rabbi: A Sit-down with Sensei Don Singer

Rabbi Don Ani Shalom Singer draws upon his Judaic roots and Eastern teachings to explore the wisdom of the heart. originally published by Linda Rubin. Click here Known as the Zen Rabbi because his teachings blend Hasidic tales and Zen stories called koans, Don Ani Shalom Singer is not your father’s rabbi. A Sensei who […]

Visual Obituary: Exploring Our LifeStories

What is of importance to you as you reflect on your life? When we make the time to think about the breadth and depth of our lives, there is so much to be remembered. In this workshop, we will share what we know about writing obituaries and explore the topic of life stories. We’ll discuss […]

Eve Marko Reports on Trip to Israel: Africa in Tel Aviv; West Bank

Originally published on June 29, 2013 BALADY I’m in a taxi going to Checkpoint 300 in order to enter Bethlehem and visit with Sami Awad, head of Holy Land Trust. The checkpoint is gone, replaced by the big Separation Wall, which is yellow-gray on the Israeli side and awash with graffiti demanding an end to […]

The End

    The end begins on a sunny day at Shea Stadium, the Spring of 1972, the bosses secretary liked me, offered me two tickets or Saturday afternoon, a Mets game. I loved the idea of taking my father, the opportunity to return a gift, symbolically, a token of appreciation for some of the most […]

The Palermo Birthday Pilgrimage, April 13-20, 2022

After the spontaneously planned US trip to a Zen sesshin and a subsequent street retreat around my 70th birthday did not work out (too many imponderables, also because of COVID), I was looking for a place with a strong statement. And that’s what Palermo gives! I expressed with this choice: my fundamental love for Sicily […]

We Happy Few: An Eternal Bond

November 2020. A member of my dissertation committee and the Buddhist Chaplaincy Department Chair at the University of the West, Dr. Jitsujo Gauthier had posted an open position at a non-profit organization called Zen Peacemakers International. I was finishing up a semester as an adjunct faculty at the university and had no classes or jobs […]

Lessons from Alabama

Lessons from Alabama May 2022 Zen Peacemakers’ Bearing Witness to Racism in America Retreat Four Posts with Four Photos By Ellen Krause-Grosman    #1: May 8, 2022 “What happened here in Alabama was a human rights issue not a civil rights issue. In this case the marginalized community was black.” Timarie, a local racial and […]

Walking with Trees

Ruth Wallen has been walking with trees near her home in San Diego and northward to the southern Sierra Nevada for more than a decade, following the same trails repeatedly, present to the deaths of an increasing number of trees due to the intertwined impacts of beetles, both native and introduced, drought, fire, and climate […]