My daily Zen Master My second Zen Master came to live with us in 2008 and he is still sharing our life. This is our 10 years old wonderful Shih Tzu called Zap. His mind, behavior and non-verbal teaching remind me some of our greatest Zen Masters over the last 2, 500 years. Yes, […]
Are you “Out of your mind”? A Zen perspective This is a common expression that we make when we are surprised or angry about someone’s statement or behavior. “ You quit your job! Are you out of your mind!” It means to be mentally out of control. “Out of your mind” is a critical […]
Mindfulness is simply being aware of: 1) What is happening now, inside and outside self, as it is and without wishing it to be different. 2) Enjoying the pleasant moment as it is and without expecting it will never stop ( which it will not ) 3) Accepting the unpleasant moment as it is […]
Meditation: What are the obstacles and excuses? Meditation is to be aware, to focus, to observe a specific chosen subject without using any analytic, judgmental and decisional mental process. It is a awareness-based contemplative mental state where the mind becomes just mirror. When thoughts and emotions pop-out, we accept them; then we let them […]
Being before thinking or having a thoughtless mind Thoughtless mind or the mind before thinking mind is a weird concept, a typical spooky Zen stuff. Anything that we listen to, read and say ----all of this is thinking coming from the mind of someone regardless the source: Wikipedia, Google, the Bible, Koran, Buddhist Sutra, […]
This is a short list of books you may interested to read. Mindfulness in plain English by B Gunaratana Wisdom pub. Being peace Thich Nhat Hanh Parallax. A great teacher, easy to read and many other books. Who is my self? A. Khena Wisdom The heart of Buddhist meditation Dalai lama Shambhala On […]
Anxiety: Watching anxiety with awareness If you notice that you are becoming more and more anxious because you are stuck in the traffic and you may miss an important meeting, simply try to be fully aware of your anxiety. Make your mind competing with itself: the anxious one against the awareness one. But […]
Moon, lake, waves and wind What is the relationship between the moon, the lake, the waves and the wind? What is the relationship between life, our mind and our thoughts and emotions? This is a metaphor and there is no difference between nature and us. When the night is silent and quiet the […]
BODY MIND & CONSCIOUSNESS According to Zen Buddhism, mind and body are one entity enabling us to express our own self identity via physical, intellectual and emotional activity. Such triple experience of life is possible only thru our consciousness. Using a modern language: DNA/body/brain is the hardware, mind the software and consciousness the WI […]
Zen Buddhism in a nutshell History: 2500 BCE ago Siddhartha Gautama aka “the Buddha =the awakened one” taught in the North East of India during 50 years following 6 years intensive mindfulness meditation practice trying to understand human suffering. Suffering, its causes and how to end it form became the core of […]
