In September, I will be publishing a collection of three Buddhist tales that I wrote over 20 years ago and just recently edited. Here is an excerpt from the first Buddhist tale, “King Bimbisara’s Chronicler.” The character, Padipa, is King Bimbisara’s Chronicler, who has been assigned to memorize the teachings…

In my previous article, I gave an abbreviated version of a Hindu myth about Vishnu’s maya. I reread the myth before I sent out the email to make sure that my synopsis was accurate. Something in the longer version caught my attention. …

One of the most memorable Hindu stories I encountered as a young person learning about Eastern religions has to do with Vishnu’s maya (illusion). The story goes something like this. A sage wants to understand maya, so Vishnu asks him to fetch some drinking water. The sage goes into a…

It was a strange summer night in Darjeeling. The monsoon clouds had cleared and the sun had broken through for the first time in days. People were out shopping and milling about, and by nightfall, it was cool and pleasant throughout the city. I went up to Chowrasta (the meeting…

When you throw yourself out into the world, you are bound to meet people you would not normally associate with, characters who will instruct through interaction and not example, the kind of person you feel you have to like or, at least, have sympathy for, but they keep proving themselves…

Like all of you, when my mind latches onto supposed facts about someone else, I build on them and use those ideas to inform decisions. Sometimes those decisions move into the outside world, where I tell someone my suspicions. I have the power to ruin another person’s life if I…

Each morning when I wake up from a series of dreams, I wonder why they are so dramatic. Last night, for instance, I was with two thieves in their car being chased by the police in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. That was just one of several dreams…

There are many ways to write this short story, but I seem to be drawn to relate it from my doubt, my feelings of misgivings, my suspicion rather than what I saw outwardly. What I saw was a kind, friendly, soft-spoken, well-mannered and humble 50-year-old Tibetan monk. We were three…

One morning, while I was preparing to go out to one of my favorite coffee shops in Thamel, I heard loud banging on the door across the way from mine. Someone answered the door. I then heard shouting and yelling by the hotel manager, who spoke in broken English, and…