The Value of Chan
Most of you are probably familiar with the Japanese term, “zen.” The Chinese equivalent is “chan” and they both refer to the same thing- meditation. Zen, per se, need not be connected to Zen Buddhism any more than praying must …
Category Archives: Meditation
Today I…
Today I… Remain within the cold comfort(able) age-spotted, witness-walls of the monastery both when within and after slow-stepping out (?) For I know that monazein, the word for ‘live alone’ gave birth to ‘monastery.’ But monazein lived not alone; It …
Silver, Glass, Light, Self
Silver, Glass, Light, Self Mirrorless no pond no glass I stare yet; deeply into deep Me and this is the mirrorless staring; the reflecting on the nonreflective; the penetrating piercing of the eye set on query; the eye set on …
Quiet Sitting Evolves in Martial Arts
“The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh Another myth that arose about Chinese martial …
Dopamine and the Spiritual Feeling
“The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.” Gautama Siddhartha (the Buddha) There is another more easily tested theory that can explain the attainment of spiritual experience found in the …
Ch’an Mind and Beyond
The practice of Zen is forgetting the self in the act of uniting with something. – Koun Yamada Ch’an or Zen in Japanese is a process of taming the mind gently so that it is calm, …
The Burden of Nothingness
A student asked Tao, Tzu “How about when I don’t bring a single thing?” Tao, Tzu said, “Where did you get this?” An Indian prince, Siddhartha Gautama over 2,500 years ago searched and eventually found a path to mental …