Do you exist without an ego? A Zen perspective. The answer depends entirely on which lens you look through. If you talk to a Zen practitioner, a Western psychologist, or a neuroscientist, you will get 3 completely different answers. To make sense of it, it helps to first separate the two terms, because we often […]
UNLOADING : A core skill from Zen teaching to practice. In Zen, the concept and practice of "unloading or undoing" doesn't mean destroying something or making yourself stupid, transparent and passive. Instead, it is the deliberate process of stripping away our layers of conceptual thinking, labelling, conditioning, habits, and our ego-driven behaviour. All of them […]
Mindfulness of Feeling Tones The Buddha taught four foundations of mindfulness: mindfulness of the body, feelings, mind, and mental objects or teachings. Together, they provide a framework for exploring our experience with greater awareness and understanding.Today, we will focus on the Second Foundation of Mindfulness: mindfulness of feelings. In everyday language, we often use the […]
We talk a lot about the importance of mindfulness and its practice without explaining how it works. Here is a possible explanation: Because the human brain cannot process 2 mental activities at once, being mindful in a non-judgmental way on X such as breathing or Y such as working with our non-dominant hand, we are forcing our brain to activate […]
Serenity & equanimity Is there a difference ? A Zen perspective In Zen philosophy, equanimity and serenity are closed related states of peace ,but they function differently. A simple way to distinguish them is that serenity is an intermittent emotional state of calmness, while equanimity is a permanent structural stability of the mind. Here is […]
The 3 Great Pillars of Zen practice according to Z.M. Dogen 1. Great Faith (Daishinko) dictates the stability of practice Great Faith is not about being complesant, having blind & rigid belief in unproven dogmas or sort of deities surrendered by supernatural events. Instead, it is a deep, and profound double trust. 1)In your own […]
Meditation: Why is it so hard to meditate? Up to 80% of people starting meditation will quit within a few weeks. Despite being too impatient and disappointed with their achievements, they quit because it is hard to meditate. It should be the simplest thing in the world, right? You just sit down, close your eyes, […]
The 5 Remembrances Today I want to talk about a short teaching from the Buddhist tradition called the Five Remembrances. They’re called “remembrances” because they’re not meant to be philosophical ideas we agree with once and move on. They’re meant to be remembered—returned to again and again—because they describe the basic conditions of being human. […]
Our Shared Earth: A Practice of Interdependence On April 22, the world celebrated Earth Day, and despite concerns about what we’re facing as a planet, it’s easy to feel there is not much we can do as things seem to have gone so far in the wrong direction. It can feel overwhelming at times, and […]
Enlightenment: Dialogue between a student and teacher. Student: “What is Enlightenment?” Teacher: “Before Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” said Zen Master Pang 8th century. This is a famous Zen saying often used as a koan given to Zen sudents to be solved. What does that mean? If nothing […]
