This week’s Time magazine’s cover story reports that mindfulness practice is becoming a mainstream practice despite its Buddhist origins. People who won’t listen to monks in robes will listen to scientists, the magazine reports. Obviously, it is the monks who should be listened to. They won’t teach mindfulness to Marines so that they can become… Continue reading Zen, Mindfulness, and Ignorance
Category: Emptiness
Zen. the Self, and External Objects
People who have never given the teachings of the Buddha a second thought know all about subject and object. They know that cars, trees, bodies of water, the sun and all of that other stuff, including other people, is out there and the subject is the me who lives inside and perceives all that stuff. Jerry… Continue reading Zen. the Self, and External Objects
Zen And Thrill Seeking
All of us have seen the interview conducted by admiring journalists after someone has run up to a cliff and jumped off it into the abyss with nothing but a hang glider to hold onto. Or after jumping off that nine hundred feet high bridge in West Virginia on Bridge Day with a bungee cord tied to an ankle. And they say the same thing.… Continue reading Zen And Thrill Seeking
Zen, Christianity and No Self
The Buddhist doctrine of no self is often misunderstood even by some Buddhists. People with low self esteem are known to embrace it: See, it’s a good thing to have no self! But the doctrine does not mean that the self does not exist. It means that the self that does exist is a… Continue reading Zen, Christianity and No Self
Zen darkness and light
Thich Nhat Hanh teaches that forgetfulness is the darkness, mindfulness is the light. Trouble is, most people have no idea what forgetfulness is. I have a good memory, they say, I am not at all forgetful. I never forget to watch the Dallas Cowboys play on Sunday afternoon. I never forget to watch Dancing with… Continue reading Zen darkness and light
Meat, Murder, Tofu And Zen
The first fold of the Eightfold Path, Right View, is sometimes translated as Right Understanding and is explained by many commentators to mean that one has Right Understanding if one understands the Four Noble Truths. But that common explanation doesn’t jive with the Buddha’s words. He said the first fold of the Eightfold Path was… Continue reading Meat, Murder, Tofu And Zen
Zen, Words And Nirvana
Mahamati asked the Buddha: “What do you mean by ‘nirvana’?” The Buddha answered the question but he prefaced his answer with definitions of nirvana propounded by “followers of other paths.” These “wrong” answers are instructive because we can see that some of them seem to be correct! For followers of some paths, the Buddha said, nirvana is:… Continue reading Zen, Words And Nirvana
Are Zen Buddhists crazy?
Many Buddhists sit on a cushion every day, counting their exhalations. Many Buddhists practice loving kindness meditation every day. And the sixteen mindfulness steps of the Anapanasati sutta. Many Buddhists sit, just sit, every day. Many Buddhists work on a koan every day. And many Buddhists do all of the above, and much more, every… Continue reading Are Zen Buddhists crazy?
Zen And Dreams Within Dreams
We can all agree that nothing happens in a dream. Most dreams are classified as anxiety dreams – we dream about what we worry about. More than once we have all awakened and realized with a sense of relief that we have been dreaming and all those worrisome thoughts were about something that wasn’t real. Any hack can… Continue reading Zen And Dreams Within Dreams
Dark energy and Zen
I have vented to some extent my outrage over Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction programs simply because I hold the strong opinion that such programs demote Buddhism to just another self-help philosophy. Something fit for a PBS fundraising show. But outrage and holding opinions, whether strong or soft, can originate only from an independent, unchanging self. And Zen… Continue reading Dark energy and Zen