Zen Buddhism
One can go either direction — “outward” so to speak, in perception, like a kind of artist, or Zen master, such as in listening to sounds and seeing sights; and (then) the small self, the illusory self, dissolves, disappears: one simply IS the sounds, IS the sights… (the Zen way…) Or one can go inward,…
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There is no escape from what you are. One thing stands out: how is it possible to have any experience at all? Such as an experience of robots, or brains, or computers, or birds, or animals, or plants, or rocks, or girlfriends, boyfriends, leaves, smoke, sunshine, dreams, reading, language, poets, mothers, cars, ferris wheels, art,…
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A Dialogue with an Unknown Source Q: What’s your real value, at the end of the day, after years of seeking and suffering and finding, and all you’ve inquired into and seen and practiced over the decades? Is it worth anything, or just empty at the end of the day? Seems to me…
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Dear Friends – Just thought I’d write a short note, in lieu of a meeting announcement. In addressing those that have been on some kind of path for quite a while, and now have an acquaintance with the “direct” path: I apologize in advance for the long messy missive-I assure you it started out short…
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A while ago I wrote an article about the lyrics to a song I loved, Ott’s Jack’s Cheese and Bread Snack. I didn’t know it at the time, but the lyrics are called the “Four Seals of Buddhism”, or “The Four Dharma Seals”. I did know back when I wrote the original article that they…
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“To ask the mind to kill itself is like making the thief the policeman. He will go with you and pretend to catch the thief, but nothing will be gained. So you must turn inward and see where the mind rises from, and then it will cease to exist.” ~ Ramana Maharshi, ‘Who Am…
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I first heard this song about ten years ago, and loved it, and was intrigued by the lyrics. Ott – Jack’s Cheese and Bread Snack One: All composite phenomena are impermanent. Two: All contaminated things and events are unsatisfactory. Three: All phenomena are empty and selfless. And four: Nirvana is true peace. The…
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Turning Western Philosophy of Mind on It’s Head Is life a problem to be solved? The philosophers and scientists who are trying to figure out how the mind works are basing their models on an orientation towards problems solving. They look for example, at animals in the world surviving, and see them solving problems: how…
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