Cassandra Bramucci

One of the greatest epic tales of all time is the Bhagavad Gita, and it is playing out all over again in our time. Let me explain. If you are not familiar with this ancient Hindu spiritual epic, I will give you a quick gloss that focuses on its significance for us today: A heroic warrior named Arjuna rides into a huge battle on a chariot driven by a man who later reveals himself as Krishna. In the middle of the battlefield, Arjuna tells his “charioteer” to stop, sees his loved ones on both...

This is a travel missive I wrote in October, 2020. (All quotes are from Rumi). The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you; Don’t go back to sleep. The thing about trains is, they rock you to sleep. You can amuse yourself with scenic views and warm chatter all you care to, but in the end, it is the rhythm that takes you. A lullaby of wheels turning on rails. The soft rocking of your body, wave-like, as if no tension ever filled the sinews that link your bones. Suddenly you are pliable in...

There is a Zen Buddhist monastery in the Santa Lucia Mountains of California called Tassajara—ironically, an Ohlone word meaning “the meat drying place”. I lived there as a monk in the early 1990s, and believe me, you won’t find any strips of meat hanging around in the sun there anymore. The name comes from the indigenous peoples that lived there along Cabarga Creek during the summer months before the Spanish discovered the hot springs. It is still remote and barely accessible, although its...