Embracing Fluidity
We’re all given roles, but we needn’t be confined by them.
Kurt Spellmeyer
Kurt Spellmeyer is a Zen priest who directs the Cold Mountain Sangha in New Jersey and a Tricycle contributing editor. He teaches English at Rutgers University and is the author, most recently, of Buddha at the Apocalypse: Awakening from a Culture of Destruction.
Losing My Religion
According to sixth-century monk Chien-chih Seng-ts’an, faith in Mind isn’t belief or doubt, but embracing everything that happens as a puzzle piece.
Seeing in the Dark
Zen priest Kurt Spellmeyer discusses cigarettes, samadhi, and “dwelling in emptiness.”
Helpless, Not Hopeless
Embracing interdependence as our hidden common ground is our best hope for the future.
Liberating Impermanence
Even timeless teachings must meet each moment anew.
Awakened by Beauty
A Zen priest and scholar considers the role of aesthetics in a renunciant tradition.
Personal Reflections Technology
Why You’re Addicted to Your Phone
The nonstop novelty of cell phones distracts us from the true root of our suffering, says Zen priest Kurt Spellmeyer.
The Human Deity
Seeing the Buddha as both human and divine opens us to our own limitless nature.
Dharma Talks
Meditating With Emptiness
In this Dharma Talk, Kurt Spellmeyer—a Zen priest and a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey—discusses the importance of emptiness in Zen Buddhism.
Waking Up by Breaking Down Barriers
Meditation can be painful. Especially if it’s practiced for long hours in a Zen retreat. But that’s not why Rinzai Zen teacher Genki Roshi once described meditation to his student Kurt Spellmeyer as “dying on the cushion.” In this series, Spellmeyer, now…
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