When Zen literature speaks about the "walls or gates" blocking access to our inner serenity and happiness it uses the word "poisons" since these walls are, most of the time, like poison pills that we swallow continuously without being fully conscious of their effects. Of course many sources of our suffering, sadness, sorrow, grief come […]
Statement Traditional Mind Zen Mind Life can be better Yes Life is what it is Life is unfair Often Life is what it is I am unique Yes What is this? Happiness is found Mostly outside ourselves Mostly inside ourselves Success is happiness Happiness is success I control Almost everything in my life Almost […]
Have you ever noted over the years that your ego mind is in starving mode all the time, always complaining and crying like a spoiled baby: “I want more, I want more, I don’t have enough, I am not happy, give me that, give me this, why me, it is unfair”? Its requests are endless: […]
Dāna pāramitā: generosity, charity, kindness, giving oneself Śīla pāramitā : virtue, morality, righteousness, discipline, proper conduct Kṣānti (kshanti) pāramitā : patience, tolerance, forgiveness, acceptance, endurance Vīrya pāramitā : energy, courage, diligence, vigor, effort, will Dhyāna pāramitā : meditation, concentration, mindfulness, contemplation rajñā pāramitā : wisdom, insight, comprehension, common sense, balance Thanks. Ven. Ji Gong Sunim.
Thanks to our deceptive mind we have this illusion that each of us is has a unique, independent, separate self-entity. As far our DNA we are unique but in fact we are all interdependent and interrelated since we are the transient byproducts of the first living molecule around 3.5 billions years ago. All living beings […]
When life is rough and tough it seems that we are riding a bull during a rodeo. Especially when events are very hard to swallow, the temptation to let go and fall on the floor is great. The wild bull can be financial pressures, health issues, work, aging parents, difficult child, love relationship, etc. The […]
Statements made by someone and the reply from a Zen talking mirror. Nothing changes around me. Nothing is permanent & everything is transient including you, your friends, your pet, the clouds, this planet, the sun, and me. Everything is changing all the time, every second, non-stop within an endless circle of new beginning and new […]
This is a dialogue between a student and a Zen teacher. Can you tell me what Zen is all about? I need to understand Zen in order to progress in my quest. NO....NO I cannot explain Zen because there is nothing to explain and you cannot understand because there is nothing to understand. Words and […]
They are called seals because there are the landmarks of Buddha 50 years verbal teaching. They are SUFFERING, IMPERMANENCE, NO-SELF and NIRVANA. They represent the 4 standing blocks of his philosophy. Everything else rests on them.These words seem weird, complex and esoteric but we will see how logical and useful they are in our daily […]
We all have an individual consciousness (IC) that is a state of awareness even if most of the time we behave in our life on an auto pilot mode with our mind wandering around continuously and usually not been in the present moment. In addition to our individual consciousness we are also part of a […]
