French philosopher and mathematician Rene Descartes wrote his famous “I think therefore I am” in 1637. Is equating our identity with thinking and equating thinking with Being (I am) a delusion? Is Being more than thinking? Can we be more than our mind and our thoughts? Of course, to function as a human being would […]
I have been requested to talk about what is real and what is not. After some hesitations here are few thoughts. When asked to define reality and non-reality the Buddha replied in many ways often contradicting himself. Maybe his contradictions had a purpose since he did not like metaphysical or philosophical stuff, preferring being down to […]
When asked why he forgave the Chinese for taking Tibet and its temples and why he did not express any anger and resentment against them the Dalai Lame replied: “They took everything but I don’t want them to take my mind. By forgiving I am keeping my mind clear and serene”. One of the common […]
The key teaching of Zen Buddhism is the teaching of impermanence also called transiency or ongoing change. Look at yourself and around you and you will see that everything changes continuously and forever. Around 300 millions cells died every minute in your body. Not 100% of them are replaced, this is aging. No living beings, no trees, […]
How do we define the “self”? The way we define and delimit Self that is you, others and me living beings is very arbitrary and restrictive. This “individual self” is a living biological organism made of around 30 Trillions of cells made of 7 x 10 power 27 molecules. This self is capable of moving, […]
Nelson Mandela spent 27 years and 4 months in jail. A journalist asked him: “How did you survive breaking rocks and doing nothing?” He replies: “ It depends what doing nothing means. Doing nothing is doing something” By the way, Nelson Mandela was an avid reader of with Zen literature. When someone is asking you […]
We know what the brain is but we have no idea what the mind is. Maybe the mind is our consciousness or part of it or has nothing to do with it. For the purpose of discussion we will use the computer as metaphor where the brain is the hardware and the mind the software. […]
Yes! Absolutely! But don’t judge! You may quit. Zen says that meditation can be boring...very boring! This is a tool used by the mind to challenge you and force you to quit. Your mind hates meditation and it will let you know. It is like a wild horse under a lasso; it will jump and […]
Despite our rich Western society and “all you can get“ life style, feeling miserable is a common complain. Of course, there are cases when misery is obvious and our duty is to help others the best we can. For the lucky ones we are privileged and yet, quite often, we do not appreciate or realize it. There […]
Perceptions are input to the mind and emotions are output. Both are instantaneous, non-stoppable and impossible to master. Both control our subsequent behavior before any rational thinking can intervene. Because perceptions are either right or wrong they can play bizarre tricks on us. How often are your perceptions right or wrong? It is impossible to answer […]
