Inquiring Mind Journal

15/02/2024

Let’s celebrate the oceanic love that includes all of creation in its heart. As the poet D.H. Lawrence wrote, “What a catastrophe, what a maiming of love when it became merely between persons, and was taken away from the rising and setting of the sun.” This oceanic love was also well expressed by the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, when he wrote an ode to his socks. This is the kind of love that pays attention to the earth and the seasons, and embraces all of life – and even death. This is the mystic’s love for creation, just the way it is – perfect in its imperfection. That’s the kind of love to go for friends... and if we would all practice that kind of love it would mark a revolution of the human spirit, and would change the world forever.

(Excerpt from a Valentine’s Day radio piece originally aired in 2011 on KPFA)

Wes ‘Scoop’ Nisker
🌎🌍🌏❤️❤️❤️

https://youtu.be/iCjzSiFzgCY?si=h8ktpwVSpf9Mo7th

02/08/2023

Our beloved Wes "Scoop" Nisker—writer, visionary, meditation teacher, stand-up comic, newscaster, founding editor of Inquiring Mind—died on Monday, July 31. May his memory be a blessing.

16/07/2023

🙏🙏🙏 Full article in today’s
https://tricycle.org/magazine/buddhas-nature/

28/01/2023

Join us!

SUNDAY AT SPIRIT ROCK!
Join Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein (via video), Wes Nisker, Nina Wise, Joanna Macy (via video), Vinny Ferraro, Will Kabat-Zinn, Kevin Griffin, Teja Bell, Barbara Gates, and Rose Nisker at Spirit Rock or online on Jan. 29 for a joyful afternoon of poetry, humor, music, and other Dharma delights to celebrate our beloved Wes "Scoop" Nisker! We will honor his decades-long contribution to the Buddhist community and his pioneering work weaving together radio, activism, and the Dharma. Facilitated by Nina Wise.

This is a belated 80th birthday celebration, book signing of "Being Nature," and benefit all rolled into one! Wes has recently moved into an assisted living facility due to increasing health challenges, and this benefit will be to support his care, and Spirit Rock.

More info & register: go.spiritrock.org/SR012923

22/01/2023

With love and gratitude:

The late Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh on the importance of community in our practice

10/09/2022

Two more issues are in the archive! Inquiring Mind Volume 4: Goenka, Trungpa, poetry & more - https://mailchi.mp/d01858d4cf82/inquiring-mind-archive-news-11464285

01/09/2022

In honor of Mikhail Gorbachev, who passed away today:

On a trip to the USSR, Wes Nisker sees uncanny parallels between the social upheavals of the American '60s and the Soviet '80s. Gorbachev is their John F. Kennedy, and glasnost their New Frontier.

31/07/2022

Here's another new article by Inquiring Mind's cofounding editor Barbara Gates — with pretty darn cute illustrations of her dog, Toby!

https://www.lionsroar.com/may-you-be-safe/

As Barbara Gates struggles to protect her adventurous dog Tony from danger, she contemplates the deep aspiration at the heart of loving-kindness practice—may all beings be safe and protected—and wonders what real safety means in this world.

30/07/2022

Here's a wonderful new article by Inquiring Mind cofounding editor Barbara Gates (note: requires Tricycle subscription)

https://tricycle.org/magazine/five-remembrances/

A hike through the woods provides a lesson in impermanence.

28/07/2022

We feel honored when Tricycle features articles from the Inquiring Mind archive! This month’s selection is by Diane Eshin Rizzetto, from our Fall 2004 "Reconciliation" issue.

How to let go of frozen views and encounter others with Beginner’s Mind

20/07/2022

Here is Bhikkhu Bodhi's perspective on war, and on how we might "preserve the spirit of Buddhist ethics while fulfilling the clear pragmatic end required by the circumstances." It updates the views he wrote about in the 2014 War & Peace issue of Inquiring Mind.

https://www.lionsroar.com/buddhism-nonviolence-and-the-moral-quandary-of-ukraine/

How does Buddhism make sense of war? In the abstract, the teachings are straightforward. But according to Bhikkhu Bodhi, if we find ourselves supporting those who are fighting back in Ukraine, then we have to ask some hard questions—and maybe accept some uncomfortable truths.

05/07/2022

Each month, Tricycle features an article from the Inquiring Mind archive. The most recent selection is Phillip Moffitt's “May All Beings Be Reconciled,” from the Fall 2004 Reconciliation issue.

How to find harmony with any situation, even the painful

07/06/2022

Tricycle republished this wonderful piece by Joseph Goldstein (originally published in Inquiring Mind's Spring 2003 "Fear & Fearlessness" issue).

How to work with fear in our meditation practice when we arrive at the limit of our comfort zone during meditation

21/05/2022

Inquiring Mind archive news: "Death & Serving the Dying" & "Traditional Dharma" - https://mailchi.mp/2a8354639096/inquiring-mind-archive-news-11445573

26/04/2022

"While acting out of delusion does have its own karma, if you say something to someone that they find offensive, but there truly was no intention in your heart to harm or hurt, there is no karma."—Sharon Salzberg, Inquiring Mind, Summer 1989

https://www.inquiringmind.com/article/0601_12_salzberg-karma/

Sharon Salzberg explains the relationship between intentions and actions: What we do and care about makes a difference in the quality of our lives—and the quality of the world.

24/04/2022

Sutta Sunday, anyone? In the summer 1989 issue of Inquiring Mind, nine teachers wrote about their favorite passages from the Pali Canon.

https://www.inquiringmind.com/article/0601_04_sutta-intro/

Barbara Gates explains how the Pali suttas, and the following collection of essays about vipassana teachers' favorite passages, came to be.

22/04/2022

Happy Earth Day! This month Tricycle is featuring a wonderful article by Nikiko Masumoto, from the Fall 2014 "Hunger" issue of Inquiring Mind.

For a fourth-generation farmer, tending the earth is a practice of resilience.

28/03/2022

Tricycle's March selection from the Inquiring Mind archive was penned by Wes 'Scoop' Nisker. 🙏🧘‍❤️

Try a “skeletal scan” meditation to help cultivate a new awareness of your body.

25/03/2022

Fun fact Friday: Numbers in parenthesis beneath the covers on Inquiring Mind's home page tell you how many articles are available in each issue. www.inquiringmind.com

19/03/2022

Fun-fact Friday! Did you know that there are several ways to find things in Inquiring Mind archive? You can explore keywords listed on the TOPICS page... or just use the search bar, of course.

https://www.inquiringmind.com/keyword/

13/03/2022

The latest in Inquiring Mind's archive: articles on ecology, war & literature - https://mailchi.mp/7de9783d9813/inquiring-mind-archive-news-11359074

08/03/2022

For International Women's Day: Barbara Gates's Inquiring Mind interview with Tenzin Palmo, Yvonne Rand, Ajahn Sundara & Ajahn Jitindriya.

https://www.inquiringmind.com/article/1902_4_interview-on-fear-fearlessness/

Barbara Gates convenes a lively discussion with a remarkable group of women teachers on our theme of fear and fearlessness.

28/02/2022

Revisiting an article from Inquiring Mind's "Demons & Dharma" issue (Fall 2012)—thanks to Tricycle.

How the four foundations of mindfulness can help us practice with—and diffuse— difficult emotions

27/02/2022

In memory of Paula Green, whose work helped heal conflicts and build peace.

https://www.inquiringmind.com/article/3002_w_green-peacemakers-beyond-borders/

Paula Green shows how Buddhist principles are leading to peace and reconciliation on three continents.

27/02/2022

We are saddened by the recent death of peacemaker Paula Green. She and her work were so greatly inspiring.

The Karuna Center community joins friends worldwide in honoring the amazing life and legacy of Dr. Paula Green and sharing the deep sadness of this sudden loss.

30/01/2022

A deep bow to Tricycle: The Buddhist Review for republishinght this early interview, "Suffering Is Not Enough," from the Summer 1986 issue of Inquiring Mind : https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/thich-nhat-hanh-inquiring-mind/

The wisdom in a 1985 interview with the Vietnamese Zen master rings as true today as it did then.

22/01/2022

Remembering Thich Nhat Hanh with this 1998 Inquiring Mind interview by Wes Nisker, Alan Senauke and Don Lattin.
https://www.inquiringmind.com/article/1402_10_thich-nhat-hanh/

Alan Senauke, Don Lattin and Wes Nisker chat with Thich Nhat Hanh about how to live each moment of daily life with more peace, solidity and freedom.