Why subscribe to Mel Pine’s blog?
This very earth is the Lotus Land of purity, and this very body is the Body of Buddha. — Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1769)
For those who don’t know me well, one place to start is my previous blog Melting-Pot Dharma, which ran until 2019. The posts from 2015 to 2017 are the most relevant to my personal life and Buddhist path.
I’ve considered myself a practicing Buddhist for close to 40 years. For the first three decades or so, my primary teacher was the venerable Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Then, in January 2016, seven months after the death of my son Thomas at the age of 29, I began practicing Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism with Lama Surya Das. While I remain eternally grateful to Thich Nhat Hanh and to Lama Surya, whom I consider my root teacher, in the last few years, I’ve taken on additional Vajrayana teachers, especially Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and Anam Thubten.
I practice the Dzogchen and Mahamudra traditions of Vajrayana Buddhism, but I include those words only for those already familiar with them.
My wife, Carol, is a fellow traveler along the Buddhist way. We practice with a daily Zoom group whose members are our dear sangha mates. Carol and I live in western Loudoun County, Virginia, near our son Carl, who recently became engaged to a lovely (inside and out) woman. They join us often for dinner.
My professional career was varied but centered around communicating with words. I have no credentials as a Buddhist teacher, but I think I’m damn good at expressing the complex more simply without sacrificing accuracy.
I call this blog From the Pure Land because I believe that the mind creates reality, and I know I’m already in the Pure Land. Join me there.
I want to share some principles:
Blogging requires absolute honesty.
Impermanence applies to blogging as it does to all other constructed things. My beliefs will change over time. But I won’t revise what I wrote before unless it’s essential to do so, and when I do, I’ll add a note indicating the change.
For now, the posts will come on no set schedule, but you can expect at least one weekly when I’m not on a retreat or otherwise unable to write.
Each post will be short. I want you to be able to read it in five minutes or so.
I’ll say so when I have been wrong.
Perhaps most importantly, this blog is a manifestation of my bodhicitta: the drive to help all beings reach Enlightenment and end needless suffering.
With a free subscription to From the Pure Land, you'll receive the same content as paid subscribers. Paying subscribers contribute willingly to this blog's mission of reducing suffering. They receive my undying gratitude, and eventually, I’ll find ways to thank them without reducing the content to free subscribers.
Paid subscriptions are $5 a month or $50 a year. There’s an option to be a Founding Subscriber for $100. Pay for a subscription only if you can afford it and feel you are receiving value.
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