LUMINOUS IS THE MIND
EXPLANATIONIn the Pali-cannon the Buddha states (A.I.8-10) “Luminous, monks, is the mind, and it is defiled by incoming defilements” indicating that through meditation the mind’s natural radiance can be made manifest. The tathagatagarbha (“arahant womb”) is said to be “by nature brightly shining and pure,” and “originally pure,” though soiled with the dirt of attachment, […]
BACK HOME
Returning back home,cross-legged and nowhere to roam,bird songs, leaves blowin. Squirrels in their holes, birds sing in this wilderness, place of perfect rest. Sat up straight legs crossed, incense burns and floats aloft, – my home, no more lost! People they don’t change, neither do they stay the same, cos ‘people are change’.
ARE WE THE LAST WESTERN MYSTICS?
IN, OUT, BREATH
IN, OUT Breathe in and out; Inhalation; Exhalation; I wish I could show you – the beauty and the peace! 在, 出 呼吸進出 吸入 呼 我不能告訴你 不為人知的美麗，與和平 NOTES: the poem popped into my head as the bell rang to signal the end of my mediation. It came to me in Chinese, and I translated to […]
BEING AS YOURSELF (像自己一樣)
看著你的吸氣 看你的呼氣 與所有呼吸的東西相連 像自己一樣 Roughly translated: watch your in breath watch your outbreath connected to all things that breath being as yourself
THE MANY PATHS OF CORRECT MEDITATION
This short post is to counter the often made claim that a certain way of approaching meditation is the right way, whereas in practice there are lots of practices and many ways. It is not the case that there is a certain order, or certain path that we must follow. In fact, the Sutra of […]
BUDDHA’S ADVICE ON EXERCISE AND MINDFUL EATING
Buddha pointed out that there are several benefits of exercise including: fitness increased resistance to disease good digestion increased composure “Monks, there are these five benefits of walking up & down. What five? One is fit for long journeys; one is fit for striving; one has little disease; that which is eaten, drunk, chewed, tasted, […]
BUDDHIST DARK-NIGHT OF THE SOUL: DUKKA-NANAS
The Buddhist version of the Dark Night of the Soul is little advertised (for obvious reasons) but universally experienced by advanced meditators. In Buddhist terminology the Dark Night is called the dukkha-nana (dukkha meaning suffering, and nana, pronounced “yah-nuh,” meaning knowledge.) In the tradition, there have been many formulations of this process found in both […]
BUDDHA SAID “BOYCOTT THE NEWS”
“Boycott the news” would be my paraphrase of Buddha’s advice to serious meditators. This is, I contend, good advice since ‘right-intention’ means renunciation from those things that poison your brain including drink, drugs, TV, politics and so on. More specifically, Buddha said that monks and serious mediators should not get involved in politics [1] and […]
BUDDHISM IS NEITHER PHILSOPHY NOR DOCTRINE
This beautiful dialogue between Dighanaka and Gautama the Buddha is the teaching that Buddhism is neither ‘philosophy’ or ‘doctrine’ and to think otherwise is to mistake ‘the finger pointing at the moon for the moon itself’. This story is retold by Master Thich Nhat Hanh [1] originally found in the Dighanaka Sutta (MN 74): Dighanakha […]