History: Buddhism was created around 2500 years ago following the 50 years long teaching of The Buddha (meaning the “awakened one”). Zen, a branch of Buddhism, was born in China 500 years later. Zen is the Japanese word for meditation. The Buddha meditated 6 years almost continuously before being "awaken" meaning 1) He realized the origins […]
This is a very legitimate question since Zen is a personal experience to achieve a " don't know mind" that is 1) To be able to scan and control the thoughts of our ego-centered mind and main source of discomfort and dissatisfaction and 2) To be free of concepts, preconceived ideas, opinions and judgment. If […]
Zen Buddhism is full of paradoxes in its literature, in its thinking and teaching. Here is an example: Question from a teacher: "Who are you? In your answer you cannot talk about yourself!". Does not make sense isn't it? Why such an attraction for paradoxes.? The existence of paradoxes does not mean that Zen is […]
Here is a simple way, but not the only one, to seek some serenity, comfort and security in our hectic and stressful life. Our body is living now but our mind is usually either in the past or future. They are not synchronized. This lack of being together is a main source of stress and […]
In this "Zen Mind Equation", the main positive attributes are in the numerator and their opposites in the denominator. Reality Mindfulness Now Meditation Others Letting go ZEN MIND = ----------- + ---------------- + ---------- + ----------- + ------------ + ------------ Illusion Distraction Past Thinking Ego […]
A forgotten mindfulness exercise. Our mind loves to think…all the time even when we sleep. Latest neurological research estimates that we have around 45,000 thoughts/day and most of them are just “mental noise” or “mental spam”. We are thinking zombies on mind autopilot without too much control unless we learn a tool to reverse it. […]
(Excellent bio about the Buddha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha) In May 544 BCE in Kushinagara, India the Buddha (“the awakened one”) whose real name was Siddhartha Gautama or Shakyamuni (the name of the family clan) was lying down peacefully waiting to die. Ananda his cousin and faithful disciple asked him to teach one more time. Around them were 500 […]
Q1: I am new in meditation and a bit concerned if not somewhat stressed in joining a group practice. A: Our group meditation is very relax and very friendly. This is the way I want it. No worries please. Zen is not an esoteric and weird practice. On the contrary you will find it quickly. Q2: […]
When Zen literature speaks about the "walls or gates" blocking access to our inner serenity and happiness it uses the words "poison" since these walls are, most of the time, like poison pills that we swallow without being fully conscious of their effects. Of course many sources of our suffering, sadness, sorrow, grief come from […]
Zen Buddhism has an interesting way to describe the various components of a human being and in fact of all living beings. It calls them: the 5 aggregates. The classification is very practical and includes: Physical: 1) Form.= Matter Form is our body from head to toes including 5 senses 2) Perception= Our sensorial recognition of our surrounding […]
