Dharma Moon

09/13/2026

What can Dolly Parton teach us about the bodhisattva path? Maybe more than you’d expect.

In this week’s Food for Non-Thought newsletter, René Fay reflects on Dolly’s way of moving through the world: generosity without fanfare, standing for what she believed was right without stripping others of their humanity, and the willingness to acknowledge missteps and change.

Not perfection. Practice. 💎

Read “Bodhisattva in a Rhinestone World” in this week’s newsletter. Link in bio. ✨

📸 1: David McClister/Redux for Vanity Fair
📸 2: David Gehr

09/11/2026

What’s happening in the mind has a way of showing up everywhere else.

Next week, join David Nichtern and Andrew Holecek for Light & Shadow on the Spiritual Path, a free online conversation about what happens when we stop chasing only the “light” and learn to meet the parts of ourselves we’d rather avoid.

Wednesday, September 16. Free to attend. Register at the link in bio.

09/08/2026

Sometimes the beginning of a path doesn’t look like a beginning at all.

Samuel Bercholz remembers being handed a copy of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s Meditation in Action—one of those moments David describes in Creativity, Spirituality & Making a Buck as a tendrel: an auspicious connection, a seemingly small event that becomes part of a much larger unfolding.

For Sam, that book opened a door into a lifetime of dharma, a relationship with Trungpa Rinpoche, and eventually the founding of Shambhala Publications.

In the new episode of the CSM Podcast, David and Sam talk about those early encounters, the unpredictable nature of Trungpa Rinpoche, the Buddhist path, and what it means to live a life that is simply “dharmic and decent.”

🎧 Listen to the full conversation with Samuel Bercholz, author of Rude Awakenings: An Unconventional Guide to the Buddhist Path. Link in bio.

09/05/2026

A good one for the weekend: Joseph Goldstein on the simple practice of remembering: “Thank you for the blessings of my life.”

Not because there aren’t things to worry about or take care of this weekend, but because we don’t have to collapse into them.

Gratitude can change the whole texture of a moment.

🎧 Listen to the full conversation with David Nichtern on Creativity, Spirituality & Making a Buck. Link in bio.

09/03/2026

A mirror doesn’t hold onto what it reflects.

But we do. We replay &criticism, hang onto the compliment, rehearse tomorrow’s conversation and revisit yesterday’s—often without realizing how caught up we’ve become.

In this week’s Food for Non-Thought newsletter, Noel Coakley explores an enduring Buddhist metaphor: awareness as a mirror, and what it can teach us about relating differently to our thoughts.

Read The Mirror Doesn’t Judge in this week’s newsletter. 🪞

→ Link in bio

09/01/2026

Different teachers come to this work with different questions. A clear path forward can make all the difference.

The Business of Teaching Meditation with Seth Freedman begins September 10.

08/30/2026

08/24/2026

A good teacher doesn’t just know the teachings—they learn how to meet people where they are.

For David Nichtern, that’s at the heart of teaching meditation: developing the ability to understand who’s in front of you, speak their language, and help them discover the practice for themselves.

Join David for The Key Elements of Teaching Mindfulness Meditation, a free live session tomorrow, August 25, and explore what it really means to become a meditation teacher.

🔗 Link in bio.

08/23/2026

What is your teaching worth?

In this week’s Food for Non-Thought, Seth Freedman explores why pricing our work can bring up questions about confidence, value, and what it means to take our seat as a teacher.

Want to build a more sustainable teaching practice? Join Seth for The Business of Teaching Meditation, beginning September 10. Link in bio.