Apply Yourself | November 17, 2014 If you separate from . . . everything you have done in the past, everything that disturbs you about the future . . . and apply yourself to living the life that you are living—that is to say, the present—you can live all the time that remains to you […]
Archives for November 17, 2014
What Was Mindfulness? | November 15, 2014
What Was Mindfulness? | November 15, 2014 When the studies on mindfulness started rolling in a few years ago, it was good news for those of us who had been practicing Buddhist meditation for years. . . . But in the midst of all this there was a question few of us ever thought to […]
The Two Extremes | November 12, 2014
The Two Extremes | November 12, 2014 These are the two extremes, O bhikshus (Religious Wanderers) which the man who has given up the world ought not to follow—the habitual practice, on the one hand, of self-indulgence which is unworthy, vain and fit only for the worldly-minded—and the habitual practice, on the other hand, of […]
Premature Equanimity
Premature Equanimity | November 11, 2014 Western Buddhists are very suspicious of attachment. They feel they need to be detached . . . so donÂ’t get upset about racism, or injustice, or the poison in the rivers, because that means youÂ’re too attached. I think one of the problems with Westernized Buddhists is premature equanimity. […]
How to Visualize Uncle Monk
On Saturday night, I returned home from a short trip to New York to celebrate my son’s engagement and attend his last cabaret performance before he and his fiance move back to the Bay Area at the end of December. While meditating on the plane, I figured out how to visualize Uncle Monk, Zen Master […]
