The Meaning of Serenity Serenity is defined as a state of being: Calm, peaceful, untroubled, restful Gentle, easy-going, quiet Free from disturbance or nearby state of agitation, unpleasant change, or violence. Having: Little motion or activity A disposition that is morally, mentally and ethically elevated. The word serenity refers to environments as much […]
Is perfection achievable? Despite being a Zen Master I strongly believe that perfectionism is self-abuse of the highest order and yet every religion talks about perfections. What are they? How to achieve and maintain them? What will happen if you are unable to achieve them during your life? Zen Buddhism is on the same […]
Key words and short expressions of Zen philosophy In non specific order. Suffering is part of life that we like it or not. It cannot be prevented but should be accepted. Acceptance to what we don’t want to accept is a big step towards serenity. Suffering is caused by attachments. Attachments are […]
Acceptance: accepting bad stuff. Key to serenity. In our pro-positive culture, the pressure to suppress our negative feelings is daily. However, psychological studies have shown that acceptance of negative events and emotions is the most reliable route to regaining and maintaining peace of mind. This was already shown by Zen 2,500 years ago. Acceptance […]
Information overload, its effects and role of meditation Definition: Excessive data input than the brain/mind is processing during the day. Brain/mind can be compared to a quantum computer where the brain is the hardware and the mind/thoughts being the software. The hardware is made of 100 billions neurons interconnected by 100 trillions connections. The […]
Karma: individual and collective Karma is a Sanskrit word meaning “action”. The law of karma refers to the sequence: cause (intention) produces action, which induces positive or negative effects. Every good/bad volitional thought or action will bring a certain good/bad result in the short or long term. If my thoughts or behaviors are motivated […]
Saying YES Introduction: When you notice the impulse to disagree, to object or to judge negatively, consider whether it is really necessary. In this mind practice we learn to say yes to everyone and for everything that happens within the limits of feasibility. Could we just nod, or even remain silent and pleasant? Whenever it […]
Being on auto pilot all the time Airplanes have an autopilot mode allowing pilots to consciously not control the plane. Plane flies by itself. Wonderful for the pilots since they can do other things more exiting. We, humans, have also an autopilot mode. In fact, we are, most of the day, on autopilot mode […]
Why Doing Nothing is one of the Best Things You Can Do In a world filled with stressors and to-do lists, it is difficult finding time to just do absolutely nothing. When was the last time you did nothing? By nothing, I mean absolutely nothing — no meditation, no scrolling social media, no […]
Embracing Distractions with Oakville Zen In September, after Cathy spoke about her time with this Zen meditation group, Arnaud asked that more members consider submitting a talk about their experience with meditation. When I first attended this group in March, I thought it was a silent group except for Arnaud’s insightful talks because we arrived […]
