Category: Zen Practice

Zen And Eating Meat

Becoming a vegetarian is the single most effective thing that a single individual can do to inhibit global warming. It dwarfs the impact of switching light bulbs from incandescent to fluorescent or LEDs, driving more fuel efficient or electric cars, using Energy Star appliances, putting solar panels on our roofs, and so on. Some researchers… Continue reading Zen And Eating Meat

Zen, The Stones and Scientology

We Zen practitioners have no bigotry or bias and we practice non-opposition so as a Zen practitioner I have no beef against Scientology. Actually, only Zen practitioners who have awakened lack all bigotry and bias. I am not an enlightened master and Scientology rubs me the wrong way. L. Ron Hubbard liked the name Clearwater so he directed… Continue reading Zen, The Stones and Scientology

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

Disney and Zen Practice

Walt Disney called Disneyland in California “The Happiest Place on Earth.” Walt Disney World in Orlando uses the same slogan. But having visited WDW scores of times, I can’t help but notice the crying children, the crowds spending their time in long lines to buy food (typically, huge turkey legs, burgers and other food cruel to both the… Continue reading Disney and Zen Practice

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

Tweet, Blog or Practice Zen?

The more I tweet, the less I meditate. The more I blog, the less I meditate. I just finished an hour of meditation. Even the idea of communicating thoughts seems ridiculous. Tweets and blogs disrupt the silence, infringe upon the silence, make a mess of the silence. Those who tweet don’t know and those who… Continue reading Tweet, Blog or Practice Zen?

The First Precept of Zen

The first precept of Buddhism, the one that drives many people away from Zen practice because they can’t keep it, is a call for not killing. It doesn’t say not to kill people. It says not to kill, period. See The Lankavatara Sutra. Following a precept results in a calm, soothed mind. The average vegetarian… Continue reading The First Precept of Zen