Oakville Zen Meditation
ATTACHMENT AND DETACHMENT One of Buddha's first teachings was that everything in life is transient. Unfortunately, we are attached to these transient things or beings, and thus suffering ensues. All of us are attached to something: our parents, spouse, child, or profession. Attachment is a feeling. It is a mere thought. We attach ourselves […]
We Are What we feel: A Formula for Unhappiness All of us experience painful emotions and unwanted situations:: as separation from loved ones, diseases, loss of job, death, and many more. Westerners have a strong relationship with their emotions either positive or negative. People focus on their good and bad emotions much more than […]
The Sound of One hand clapping The paradoxical mystery of koans and their teaching purpose Translated from Chinese, koan literally means “ public statement”. Koans were created in the XI century by a Zen Master called Dahui to assess student progress toward Awakening. A Koan is a short question, statement, story, riddle, image, […]
DHARMA: Illusion and Delusion: main sources of suffering The optimal goal of Zen-Buddhism practice is to control, if not eliminate suffering. The word “suffering” is better translated as “negativities in its broader sense” that is any situations and feelings affecting us negatively i.e. Struggling, anger, sadness, resentment, anxiety, unhappiness, jealousy, etc. Sources of negativity […]
The art and power of resting In this talk, resting is a relaxation exercise, different from meditation despite some similitudes. We are always running around and struggling with time. Fighting time has become a kind of addiction. We cannot resist being active, running around like a hamster on its wheel, giving us the feeling of […]
Happiness, serenity, and equanimity Equanimity: the key to happiness: A Zen perspective Let us start with a definition: Happiness: The intermittent positive emotional feeling of joy and pleasure is triggered by an external source. Serenity: State of mind combining calmness, contentment, composure..... only when everything is OK. Equanimity: Permanent even-tempered […]
If you doubt fully, you will awaken fully Japanese Zen teacher Hakuin loved to repeat: "At the bottom of great doubt lies great awakening. If you doubt fully, you will awaken fully, if you never doubt you will stay asleep with a frozen mind" This is one of these paradoxical, and obscure Zen statements […]
