Rusty Ring

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

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

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

I've been gratified over the years to encounter a small but steady circle of fellow hermits on social media. It's always encour...

Enlightenment is the stated goal of Buddhism, possibly the only doctrine all denominations share, though variously defined. As ...

I had never heard of this alt hymn, or the artists who built it, or even the television series that launched it, before I first heard i...

This morning a brother in my Twitter sangha posted the following five paragraphs from the Pali canon ( Dutiyaassutavāsutta, SN 12.62 ). ...

For some years I've enjoyed sporadic correspondence with a fellow Zenner in England. After a few less-than-uplifting experiences with...

In my university days I T.A.'d for a professor whose insights would have an enduring effect on my understanding of the Path. (Shout-...

I augur this the right moment to mention my regret at the passing of graveyards, which ironic development has left my society impover...

'Way back in March of 2012 CE (how strange to have such a deep vault) I reviewed Zen at War , Brian Daizen Victoria's exposé o...

This month past brought Rusty Ring into its tenth year of publication, not counting the four-odd months that I sat ango . This ...

So I'm reading Adam Savage 's Every Tool's a Hammer , an elaborated meditation on "making", that thing that mak...

A Western Zenner was visiting sacred sites in the mountains of Korea, when he happened upon the hermit Hyung meditating beside a stre...

After a recent very pleasant afternoon spent in the companionship of a beloved sangha-mate, I've fallen to contemplating the bl...

In 1975, British artists Brian Eno (a musician) and Peter Schmidt (a painter) developed a formal system for smashing "creative bl...

For some time now I've wanted to write The Big Book of Un-Preached Sermons , a disquisition on the Shadow Gospel: that body of Chris...

This week I found a stunning quarter-column in an ancient Life magazine, dated 18 July 1962. In it, an uncredited writer summarises a H...

This is a long post. It needs to be. If you're a Buddhist, or just a fan of the Buddha, please read patiently; the topic is of importa...

Once upon a time a mighty nation considered itself the holiest, most righteous in history. The ruling class especially leaned heavily ...