Flint Sparks's Page

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I just returned from a meeting of Lay Zen Teachers who convened at Dharma Rain Zen Center in Portland, Oregon on the weekend of February 19-21. This was a warm and important meeting of over 20 teachers from all over the U.S., and I was honored to have been part of this group and the first Lay Teacher's meeting. I want to offer a few reflections for the Appamada sangha which I hope will place some of these current events in perspective. This is my personal sense of things and is not the only pers… Continue

Dear Sangha. Here are two poems from today's Inquiry - one by Mary Oliver which I read, and another by RIchard Wilbur that Krzys mentioned when he came up. We are indebted to these two authors for their work and their wisdom, borne of their practice. It was lovely to be with everyone and reconnect.

Terns
Mary Oliver

Don't think just now of the trudging forward of thought,
but of the wing-drive of unquestioning affirmation.

It's summer, you never saw such a blue sky,
and here they are, those w… Continue

I am sitting in Love Field in Dallas waiting for a delayed flight back to Austin after a week of retreat in the snowy mountains of Taos, New Mexico. As I type these words, the irony of "sitting in a field of love" suddenly captures my awareness and re-centers me, drowning out the harsh and garbled flight announcements, the overstimulated screams of running children, and the patchwork sounds of one-sided cell phone conversations (not to mention the penetrating smell of Cinnebons). Amidst all this… Continue