Rusty Ring

An intoxicant is any external source that draws you deeper into yourself, your beliefs, your egocentrism, and away from direct experien...

incola ego sum apud te in terra et peregrinus sicut omnes patres mei. Psalterium Sancti Hieronymi, 38:13 (English translation...

I first encountered the oft-cited invocation below in a newspaper column by United Congregational minister Dale Turner. At the time I ass...

My very best wishes to all Rusty Ring readers, regular and irregular, on this Christmas Day. May it be filled with warmth and l...

Like a lot of old people, I've come to find myself adrift at Christmas. Family mostly gone. Friends busy with their own. I nev...

"I am a continuation, like the rain is a continuation of the cloud." Thich Nhat Hanh (Photo courtesy of Anderson Man...

This unlikely 1967 Arlo Guthrie classic has become a Thanksgiving ritual for American radio stations, many of which spin it on that day....

One lonely commandment: If you don't like it, don't be it. (Photo courtesy of Danh Đãnh and Unsplash.com .)

Courtesy of a Zen droogie on social media.

Matsuo Bashō (芭蕉) was a wandering Zen hermit of the Edo period, as well as an accomplished poet. Popularly considered the father of mo...

(Here's another bullfrog [Rana (Lithobates) catesbeiana], rather better lit and differentiated from her background. She's a w...

"Strictly speaking, every unenlightened practitioner is mixing their own convictions and belief systems with Buddhism. There is...

Let us walk alone together, comrade sojourner. We will be like pebbles in a bag, polishing each other bright. (Ship's dogs...

"Dying is easy. Practice is hard." (My monastic riff on a hallowed show biz pun .) (Photo of Chàn ancestor Hanshan De...

The theory is really simple. The only problem is that theory alone will not help us to be content with our practice. Although...

The title of this post is a line from Mad Max: Fury Road , the 2015 instalment of the Mad Max film series. Much has been said abo...

"The entire evolution of science would suggest that the best grammar for thinking about the world is that of change, not of ...

This graphic illustrates the grandfather paradox, a secular koan demonstrating the inability of the human mind to grasp reality. A...

What is zazen? Just sitting. What is practice? Just doing. What for? For nothing. Just do it. Practice the dharma for...

Some months ago I had a refreshing conversation on Zen ethics with a fellow hermit on Mastodon. We're equally sceptical of quietis...