October 1, 2024 Homecoming – An Impromptu PoemI left my hometown when I was young and came back in my old age. Although my local accent has not changed, the hair on my temples has turned gray.When the children in my hometown saw me, no one recognized me. They smiled and asked me: “Guest, where did you come from?” – He Zhi Zhang, written in 744, Tang Dynasty Dear Friends, How have you been this month? This past Friday night, I attended Anu Gupta’s book launch for Breaking Bias, and it was a profound experience. His deep exploration of various biases resonated deeply with me, prompting reflection on my own immigrant journey and my biases surrounding rootedness and stability. When I arrived in NYC at age 12 from China, my family moved six times within the first three years. I attended fifth grade in Brooklyn, sixth grade in Chinatown, and returned to Brooklyn for seventh and eighth grades. Each school defined graduation years differently, so I graduated three times in four years. This instability continued through high …

September 1, 2024 “Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond.” – Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants How are you all? I haven’t led a hike in a couple of years.  For our upcoming hike, Sebene wrote these beautiful questions for exploration: – How do we heed the call of indigenous communities who insist that land acknowledgements are not enough?– How do we forge a connection to the Earth that goes beyond ideas of ownership and extraction (even recreational extraction) to ones of reciprocity and stewardship? – How do we cultivate a restoration of relationship to nature?  As I am contemplating these questions, asking permission and making offerings come to mind as a starting point.  I first encountered the practice when I was learning to give tree meditation and solo retreat instruction from Johann Robbins, who learned it from …

August 11, 2024 “ My father would always say, people who practice martial arts go through three stages: seeing yourself, seeing the world, seeing all living beings.” – The Grandmaster, film by Wong Kar Wai How are you all? Last Sunday I led a sunset meditative walk to the Brooklyn Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge Park. Just two hours before our meeting at 6:30pm, a fierce thunderstorm had engulfed New York. I hesitated for a moment, wondering if I should cancel and reschedule. Yet, another voice within reminded me, “We practice in all weathers. Life isn’t just made of sunny days.” With the weather forecast predicting that the rain would likely clear up, I decided to proceed as planned. As it turned out, the rain had mostly stopped by the time we gathered, leaving the air refreshingly crisp. As we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, we were greeted by a magnificent rainbow stretching between the Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge. It even evolved into a double rainbow, shimmering in the dusk light—a rare and magical sight in New York. Throughout the …