Rusty Ring

When I first became a hermit monk I had no zafu, so I sat on a sofa cushion. That got me off the ground – no pun intended – but was bul...

Well, I finally did it. I dumped the IntenseDebate comments widget. It was a hard decision, for several reasons. Worst of which was los...

For some time now I've been designing a bindle cookset (and by "designing" I mean thinking about it, for example when I...

Though the word translates as "just enough", oryoki has grown to mind-numbing complexity in Zen monasteries, where every secon...

Regular readers of this blog know that I generally eschew material attachments in Zen practice. We humans have a tendency to pile up insig...

(With lobster mushrooms and sourdough crust. Baked on my new flower pot-bottom bindle-tech pizza stone.)

Thoreau's cabin at Walden My decision to live in a tiny tent during my 100 Days on the Mountain , rather than more comfortable ...

I'm not a big incense guy. Some Buddhists are. They like to set up an exotic Asian vibe, and incense is one of the foreign accoutrem...

A few months ago I posted instructions for making your official Hermit Club rushlight, or candle lantern. That left you with a cheap, s...

Every hermit needs a rushlight. It's a meditation candle, a trail light, and general illumination where there is no electricity. I mad...