A step toward Awakening “ What are you” or “Who are you” is a classic Koan that every Zen student has to answer properly. If the answer is related to the “I, me, myself & mine” the student fails and must work on the Koan again and again. So....How to define yourself w/o talking […]
About complaining Complaining is one of our ego’s favorite strategies for feeding itself in order to get stronger and more powerful. Ego loves complaining even if, most of the time, complaining will not change anything excepting producing negative energy, which will neutralize our positive one. I will talk about these later on. Every complain is […]
Dharma talk # 346 Is suffering necessary? Of course not or ..maybe! However physical and emotional pains are unavoidable. Events in Life are what they are and not what we want nor what we don’t want to be. “When we do not get what we want or when we get what we do not want,” […]
Humility: one of our hidden force towards equanimity The following talk sounds distant from Zen philosophy, but stay tuned to the end. Suppose you are at a job interview with the HR recruiter, and she/he is asking the following: “ What is one of your best qualities?”... and, after a short pause, you answered: “ Humility.” At this point, […]
Start with the end in mind... So what happens in the end? We become dirt. We may be buried, cremated, or as in the case of Zoroastrianism left to be fed to birds of prey and then become bird poop. Either way, the end is dirt. So why are we, the walking pile of ‘eventual’ […]
Wanting to be happier Wanting to be happier is a universal daily expectation. The scientific study of happiness called positive psychology has mushroomed over the last two decades. Major research institutions have taken on provoking search into the joy of joy, with surprising results. Here are few: Researchers from UK used MRI, heart-rate monitors and […]
Controlling anger Anger is an emotional involuntary reflex mostly ego-driven. Its onset is impossible to prevent. This destructive emotion is very hard to control because it takes over our rational thinking, pushing us into further detrimental consequences. Whatever its sources and they are many, anger is affecting not only you and me but also people […]
Circuit breaker A circuit breaker is an electrical switch designed to protect an entire circuit from damage caused by a sudden overload or from a short appearing somewhere in the circuit. By interrupting the current, the circuit breaker is protecting the entire system. Our brain-mind is also a giant electrical system made of 100 […]
I started meditating many years ago. I meditated primarily as a way to help me deal with stress and insomnia, both of which are related. My meditation wasn’t a routine practice and I did it only when I felt I needed to. As a result, I didn’t progress beyond a basic level. That level typically […]
Did you give compliments lately? XIII century Japanese Zen Master Dogen, also a Samurai, used to teach the following. I am editing : “As often as you can, think about someone close to you: family member, friend or even coworker and give them a simple genuine compliment..... w/o expecting something back. The closer the […]
