Kali has always been my favorite goddess to share. One, because of her power but also because there is such misunderstanding of what she actually represents. Kali IS the goddess of transformation and she IS scary, with her blue/black body, hanging tongue and necklace of skulls. However her energy is there to transform, to help us to cut away that which we no longer need, either in our external worlds, or aspects of our internal life which need to be released. In addition, she is extremely important in that she helps to release us from FEAR. And she is always there so that the new and beautiful can be born in our lives.  MORE

Most of the work I do is in pastoral counseling. My challenge is how to present the Buddhist teachings in a way that is culturally relevant to African Americans, who are acutely aware of the precariousness of their lives. The conclusion I have come to is that Buddhists need to connect African Americans to a larger story than the Buddha’s individual liberation.... In this new story, what noble truths arise when Siddhartha sees the suffering of racism? Siddhartha’s first truth could be “People, including loved ones, try to protect you from the truth of other people’s harmful delusions.”  MORE