melanie gin
  • About
  • Talks & Published Articles
  • Poetry
  • Tech
  • Contact
Melanie Gin

Melanie Gin

151 posts •

notes from the womb

In my mother’s womb, I once floated in primordial soup for 32 weeks, eight shy of full-term. I was born premature & spent my first days in an incubator surrounded

3 March 2023 2 min read

waking up to suffering / bowing to its roots

Naming upfront that this piece reflects my memory of interactions with my partner, parents, and siblings. I have done my best to capture dialogue, behavior, and "energetic feel", and acknowledge

3 March 2023 6 min read

Letter to Thay requesting lay ordination to the Order of Interbeing

January - February 2023 Dear respected Thay, Dear respected Sister Chan Khong, Dear respected ancestors and teachers, A few days ago, I celebrated the lunar new year at a tea

23 February 2023 3 min read
beloved community in 2023

beloved community in 2023

January 4, 2023 Dearest Melanie, On New Year’s Eve, I began drafting this love letter in the hills near Deer Park Monastery. Birds were cawing and somber clouds would

4 January 2023 5 min read
on lines and distance

on lines and distance

Identity is not a theory or concept, she said. Let go of the mind. What is true in your body?

12 November 2022 6 min read

I imagine a sangha...

Dear ones, I write from the vast ocean of my heart, thoughts arising and falling like waves. * I am growing older, my body more fragile. In a few years, I

12 November 2022 2 min read

Poetry as Buddhist practice

Draft 2 of Lion's Roar article I once got into a fight with my beloved lay dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition. She insisted that the insight of interbeing

6 September 2022 3 min read

Poetry as Buddhist practice

Draft article for Lion's Roar For months in residence at a Soto Zen temple, I woke before dawn to meditate, observing the sunrise in shadows migrating on white walls. Some

28 August 2022 3 min read

August poems

Tea leaves Breathing in, I sip my jasmine tea Connecting me to the lands of ancient ancestors Tea plantations in china, earth fragrant with fallen blossoms Grand ancestor, did you

28 August 2022 1 min read

A gathering of trees

Draft imagining of an engaged Plum Village sangha blending "Beloved Community Circles", Wake Up, and BIPOC sangha aspirations

22 August 2022 2 min read
Building MLK's beloved community

Building MLK's beloved community

The draft of my talk for the Engaged Buddhism panel at "The Future of American Buddhism" conference June 2-5

4 June 2022 6 min read

A letter to the white man at the hot springs

To the overly friendly white man who spoke to me on five separate occasions in five hours at a clothing-optional hot springs resort on the morning of my birthday, You

17 May 2022 3 min read

Full moon, blood moon birthday

Happy birthday, dear Melanie. In the waning hours of your birthday, soak in the healing red glow of the full blood moon.

15 May 2022 3 min read

Golden sunflower yellow

Celebrating this sunflower yellow skin passed down from my early kin name is Melanie Anne Gin given by my mother and assimilation ancestors dreaming of gum saam this gold mountain

11 April 2022 1 min read

An ocean of belonging

Step into this ocean of belonging. Around you there are beings who accept and love themselves. They float, welcoming the rising tide, accepting the ebb and flow of water with

11 April 2022 1 min read

There is no wasted time

This morning I found myself in a familiar loop, worrying about whether the grey weather would limit my enjoyment of the regional botanic gardens, whether I’d be cold and miserable.

25 March 2022 2 min read

Creating cultures of liberation

Reflections from second web3 dialogue How does enlightenment arise in the body? For a moment, I return to the meditation cushion past midnight, the singing of the frogs accompanying me.

18 February 2022 6 min read

Naming our ancestral stories

Reflections from first web3 dialogue The stories of our ancestors are at the root of our suffering and provide us a path forward into the light of liberation. Where do

11 February 2022 5 min read

Resting with Thay

My root teacher Thich Nhat Hanh taught me to rest. Once a week at his monasteries, monks and nuns would schedule a lazy day — a day without plans, formal practice,

27 January 2022 3 min read

To my anxiety, with love

Sometimes, I know it's hard to find a way out trying to escape fear or anger or discomfort, you doom scroll the news or swipe on the apps until a

27 January 2022 1 min read

when the monopoly takes me off the map

I fear the day when the monopolies which govern my utilities – the massive electricity distributor, the internet service provider – decide to take me off the map How quickly the internet

24 January 2022 1 min read
on thay's passing

on thay's passing

My teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, has died. In the Plum Village tradition we say “continued in new form” or “transitioned” to avoid the delusion of “life and death”.

23 January 2022 4 min read
Returning to wholeness in 2022

Returning to wholeness in 2022

Sink into the spring of healing. Slowly bathe this human body in attention, soft fingertips caressing scalp so tenderly we weep.

1 January 2022 6 min read

A wedding blessing (for Ellen and Earl)

Ellen is the sister in my chosen family The one I turn to when I forget who I am In her face I see the fullness of our collective journey,

29 December 2021 2 min read

Let’s be human together.

As the holidays approach, I'm celebrating all of the little things that have gone well for me this week. Doing my best to offer grace when it’s not possible.

20 November 2021 2 min read
melanie gin © 2023
Latest Posts Facebook