Touching Peace in Everyday Life Every year, as the New Year approaches, we send and receive messages wishing health, prosperity, and peace. In a world filled with rushing, distractions, and competition, these words can feel like empty clichés. Health can be pursued by caring for our bodies and attending to our needs. Prosperity, we’re good […]
Mindful eating We eat every day, but often we’re not really present while eating. It’s common to eat while standing at the counter, rushing through a snack, scrolling on our phones, watching TV, or eating without really noticing what’s in front of us. We follow endless food rules and are constantly told what, how much, […]
As far as Zen is concerned, serenity has nothing to do with some sort of blissful state where everything is peaceful, rosy, cheerful, and happiness runs 24/7. It will never happen. Serenity is a state of mind; it appears when equanimity is achieved, and stress level under control. It means you are able to maintain […]
According to neuroscience, including imaging, our mind is processing around 110,000thoughts/feelings 24/7.Their contents, representing around 50 to 70 Gigabytes of data,* are a blend of factual, concrete realities(R), and virtual ones (VR).How much reality vs. fiction is produced? ……VR seems to be the dominant output.Does this ratio Reality / Fiction affect our societal , emotional […]
MEDITATION: Part II How to create a daily routine Up to 80-90% % of people who start meditation will quit within a year. Why is that? It is multifactorial but can be summarized in 1 word: they quit because being not a priority, a daily routine is impossible. Read previous Dharma talk about meditation hindrances. […]
Proper Concentration Proper concentration, or Samadhi, is the eighth and final step of the Noble Eightfold Path. It belongs to the part of the path that focuses on mental discipline. When we talk about Samadhi, we're talking about a mind that is steady, calm, focused, and collected - not scattered, not dull, not pulled around […]
Why is it so hard to meditate every day? Part I ( Next: part II: How to create a daily routine.) We always make time for zillions of things that we have to do everyday because they are mandatory, such as eating, showering, driving, working, reading, etc. In other words, they are daily priorities. […]
The 4 SEALS Part 1 SUFFERING They are called seals because they are the landmarks of Buddha's 50 years of verbal teaching. SUFFERING, IMPERMANENCE, NO-SELF and NIRVANA. They represent the 4 standing pillars of Zen philosophy & practice. Everything else depends on them.These words seem weird, complex and esoteric but we will see […]
Feeling being a victim : a Zen perspective One of the purposes of Zen practice is to offer an open heart to self and around us. But It is not easy to open up our own hearts, to open to the “I, me, myself, and mine”. The breakdown of any situation where you feel being […]
What is your problem? or dealing with our negativities “Problem” means that you are dwelling on an event, a situation or a person that is perceived negatively meaning generating a negative emotional response such as pain, anger, regret, etc.. Problems are small, gigantic, last a few min., few hours, a few years or forever. […]
