Oakville Zen Meditation

Dharma Lecture

#39.Our starving ego mind.30MAR15

Have you ever noted over the years that your ego mind is in starving mode all the time, always complaining and crying like a spoiled baby: “I want more, I want more, I don’t have enough, I am not happy, give me that, give me this, why me, it is unfair”? Its requests are endless: […]

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#38.The six perfections (Paramitas) of Zen Buddhism

Dāna pāramitā: generosity, charity, kindness, giving oneself Śīla pāramitā : virtue, morality, righteousness, discipline, proper conduct Kṣānti (kshanti) pāramitā : patience, tolerance, forgiveness, acceptance, endurance Vīrya pāramitā : energy, courage, diligence, vigor, effort, will Dhyāna pāramitā : meditation, concentration, mindfulness, contemplation rajñā pāramitā : wisdom, insight, comprehension, common sense, balance Thanks. Ven. Ji Gong Sunim.

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#37.The wave & the sea are One

Thanks to our deceptive mind we have this illusion that each of us is has a unique, independent, separate self-entity. As far our DNA we are unique but in fact we are all interdependent and interrelated since we are the transient byproducts of the first living molecule around 3.5 billions years ago. All living beings […]

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#36.Are you riding a bull in a rodeo?

When life is rough and tough it seems that we are riding a bull during a rodeo. Especially when events are very hard to swallow, the temptation to let go and fall on the floor is great. The wild bull can be financial pressures, health issues, work, aging parents, difficult child, love relationship, etc. The […]

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#35.Pragmatic Zen

Statements made by someone and the reply from a Zen talking mirror. Nothing changes around me. Nothing is permanent & everything is transient including you, your friends, your pet, the clouds, this planet, the sun, and me. Everything is changing all the time, every second, non-stop within an endless circle of new beginning and new […]

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#34.Eating an orange is Zen

This is a dialogue between a student and a Zen teacher. Can you tell me what Zen is all about? I need to understand Zen in order to progress in my quest. NO....NO I cannot explain Zen because there is nothing to explain and you cannot understand because there is nothing to understand. Words and […]

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#33.The 4 seals of Zen Buddhism

They are called seals because there are the landmarks of Buddha 50 years verbal teaching. They are SUFFERING, IMPERMANENCE, NO-SELF and NIRVANA. They represent the 4 standing blocks of his philosophy. Everything else rests on them.These words seem weird, complex and esoteric but we will see how logical and useful they are in our daily […]

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#32.Individual & Collective consciousness

We all have an individual consciousness (IC) that is a state of awareness even if most of the time we behave in our life on an auto pilot mode with our mind wandering around continuously and usually not been in the present moment. In addition to our individual consciousness we are also part of a […]

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#31.ZEN on words.

Words are wonderful thinking and communication tools and we are addicted to them non stop. 1- We are thinking through words. No other choice. Words are the fuel of our mind producing our thoughts, concepts, ideas and opinions. No word, no mind. When we think we talk to ourselves and we talk to ourselves all […]

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#30.Zen teaching: an arrow in our ego mind

How often during the day we are “sleep walking” doing things from pure habits, conventions and routine? How often are we in auto pilot mode submitted to our ongoing thoughts like thinking zombies? The answer is almost all the time. There is nothing wrong to follow our daily routine but it should be within a […]

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