Novelist and Storyteller
Shu-jō mu-hen sei-gan-dō Bon-nō mu-jin sei-gan-dan Ho-mon mu-ryō sei-gan-gaku Butsu-do mu-jō sei-gan-jō Beings are numberless; I vow to save them. Delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to end them. Dharma gates are boundless; I vow to enter them. Buddha’s way is unsurpassable; I vow to become it. The first time I chanted these lines 12 years …
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This piece was published in the Bay Area Reporter on 3 September 2020 under the title of Six Questions to Ask Before Having Sex Again. If you were locked down over the last months with your partner or partners, intimacy has likely been a key part of quarantine survival. But for those of us that …
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https://youtu.be/SvxwTCGBB34 My first Moth Storytelling night in Berkeley on June 6. 2018 on the theme "endings." Stepping up to speak after my name was called, all I knew was my first line. For the Moth you cannot read anything prepared. Your name is picked out of a hat and you come on stage. As I …
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Who could imagine that radical behavioral changes required due to the coronavirus would make kissing dangerous and caressing forbidden? Sadly, health professionals have ignored sex and intimacy as they outline the dos and don’ts of our current lives. The implicit message is that we shouldn’t be talking about sex when people are dying. However, that …
Welcome as we are in another day of our collective sesshin in Northern California. It’s a very special time because we have never tried to have a sesshin with all of the population of Northern California. But with all of us sheltering-in-place in response to the corona virus, here we are. Sesshin is a Zen …
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Recently, I have been anxious, fearful and angry. How about you? While Covid-19 brought these feelings to the forefront, I realized the cause was something else, old traumas being re-triggered, the trauma of the pandemic—HIV/AIDS—that killed virtually every person affected in its early years. The deaths and illnesses affecting family members and beloved friends. The …
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The musical Hamilton ends with the Finale, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story.” Our view of history has always been shaped not by the specific events themselves, but by who records and who remembers.Queer people are certainly not the only ones that have been eliminated from history or seen its history distorted by others. Straight white …
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It's 3:10 am and I wake by the bell loudly clanging in the hallway. The light switch is flipped on and the room full of men becomes alive. By the time I have rubbed my eyes, stretched on my futon and manage to get up, a full minute has passed. When I finally pull myself …
There are many pathways to understanding or misunderstanding a country. Japan offers opportunities to do both. Years ago, I was in Singapore visiting a friend in a fairly nice apartment building. There were two signs in the elevator. One saiid "No durians." If you have ever smelled one, you would know why. The second said, …
Jojakkoji Tenryuji Nison-in Hogan-in Giouji Koryuji Horyuji Yakushiji Toshodaiji Todaiji Kohfukuji Daikakuji Ryoanji Byodoin Koshoji Mimuritoji Temple Hopping Selfies red seal books Attest to our attainment Why have we come here? Temple Shots: We All Should be Inoculated Kannon looms over Compassion eternally Our need is endless Humid Kyoto Afternoon Sweat on my brow pours …
Alan Lessik 