The business of mindfulness is discussed nicely in a recent article in The Economist by Schumpeter. The article is being brilliantly discussed by fellow OI1 members on the OI discussion board. According to the tag line of the article, capitalism is looking for inspiration from Eastern mysticism. For example, Google offers courses “search inside yourself,” […]
Lonely Travelers
As of today, October 5, 2013, all three of my children are away from their homes. Micah, who lives in New York is in Ashland, Oregon at the Shakespeare Festival. This is something he has been doing since his days at Stanford University. Rachael is visiting her college friend in San Diego, California, where she […]
Is There A Quickest Path To Enlightenment?
When Shinzen Young is asked, “Is there a quickest path to enlightenment?” he says, “Perhaps, but I don’t think it’s currently known by humanity. In our current stage of spiritual science, different approaches seem to work for different people. That’s why I like to give you folks a wide range of contrasting techniques to choose […]
Vows of the Bodhisattvas
Vows of the Bodhisattvas Creations are numberless, I vow to free them Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to transform them Reality is boundless, I vow to perceive it The awakened way is unsurpassable, I vow to embody it A bodhisattva is an enlightened being who has forsaken final nirvana in order to help save all […]
Bernie Glassman Talked At Google
Zen Master Bernie Glassman talked at Google very recently. This lovely new video about his teaching of Zen and his work with the homeless. He outlined something that is called, “mandala practice,” which is a holistic approach to social action. It involves five different types of energy: spiritual energy, training energy, social action energy, livelihood energy, and […]
Buddha Gate Monastery
Last Saturday, my wife and I visited the Buddha Gate Monastery in Lafayette, California. The monastery is on 17 acres of beautiful land in what is know as the East Bay of San Francisco. [Read More…] The monastery is supported by the Chan tradition of Grand Master Venerable Wei Chueh who organized many monasteries in Taiwan as well as […]
Happiness And The Experience Of No Self
Polly Young-Eisendrath is a scholar of Buddhism and Western psychology. She gave this Tedx talk at Middlebury University on Getting Free Of Self-Importance Is The Key To Happiness. The gist of her talk was that self-consciousness and self-centeredness lead us into the experience of self conscious emotions. She lists shame, guilt, envy, and jealousy as the […]
Discover The Music of Zen Meditation
You don’t have to be able to read and understand French to discover the music of Zen meditation. Simply listen to this beautiful music with headphones. The therapeutic frequencies and binaural beats take you to a lovely spot in your mind. It is so easy to sit back and relax and listen to this music. […]
A Poem About Inner Life By Norman Fischer
Zoketsu Norman Fischer is a Zen priest in the tradition of Suzuki Roshi. When I first started learning Zen meditation in the mid 1980s, he was one of the priests I really connected to. I felt honored to be able to have dokusan (a private interview with a Zen teacher) with Norman some time around […]
Why Does Sit Happen?
At a gathering of some of Kobun Chino Roshi’s long-term students in Santa Cruz, CA, shortly before Kobun’s death, a student asked, “Kobun, why do we sit (meditate)?” He replied: “We sit to make life meaningful. The significance of our life is not experienced in striving to create some perfect thing. We must simply start […]
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