This “Remove the Object Meditation” comes from the Buckeye Sangha and Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh from his book, Reconciliation: Healing the Inner Child): Linji, the founder of Zen Buddhism in China, was fond of saying, “remove the object.” The object is the person or situation we’re thinking about, the story. So the practice is […]
A New Meditation for Sleep
Here is a new meditation for sleep that I have been using lately. In concept, it is pretty simple. You imagine a set of objects in twenty layers, each layer consisting of one object less than the one below it with the top layer having twenty objects, as illustrated below. The objects can be anything […]
How to Prepare for the Future
In these wonderful words of wisdom from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, we learn how to prepare for the future. When I first began writing these pages in 2012, several of the mentors I had would say, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!” This was a really hard one from me as […]
Father Time
These words of wisdom about father time (the Time-God) were hand written in a letter from Swami Veda Bharati in December 2008. We are at the end of 2015 and it is a good time to think about this time in our lives, reviewing our past year and setting intentions for the new year. In […]
Practice Daily Meditation
The fourth of the Seven Principles of Mindfulness in Healing from the book, Healing with the Seven Principles of Mindfulness is to practice daily meditation. Here is why. Meditation strengthens the mind like exercise strengthens the body. With daily exercise, your muscles become toned and your body feels great. If you miss a day or […]
Guided Meditation for Sleep
This guided meditation for sleep is something I could have used last night. Like many guided meditations, this one begins with the imagery associated with a quiet and peaceful beach, warming and relaxing you body and mind. The last twenty-five minutes or so consist of relaxing music to keep you sleeping well. Sleep is usually […]
Just Pay Appropriate Attention
Here is another quote from Matthew Kelly, this time from his book, Perfectly Yourself: 9 Lessons for Enduring Happiness. He is teaching us to just pay appropriate attention. He calls it “just do the next right thing.” Appropriate attention is an important Buddhist concept that came down to us as yoniso manasikara. It implies paying […]
Maintaining the Silence
In yesterday’s article, we learned about Entering the Silence from Matthew Kelly. Today, we are going to learn about maintaining the silence from Joseph Campbell. In The Power of Myth, he writes about entering the silence: “This is an absolute necessity for anybody today. You must have a room, or a certain hour or so […]
Entering the Silence with Purpose
Entering the silence with purpose is just what we do when we have a daily meditation practice. The silence comes between our thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Matthew Kelly, in his book, The Rhythm of Life: Living Every Day with Passion and Purpose, has this to say about entering the silence with purpose: “Everything great in […]
Let the Thought or Feeling Go
These words of wisdom from Lama Surya Das teach us how to let the thought or feeling go. This works especially well when we allow ourselves to breathe in and breathe out and remove the object from our mind. This is reminiscent of Linji‘s directive to remove the object. The object, of course, is the […]
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