“Nothing is hidden,
It has always been clear as day,
For divine wisdom look at the old pine tree;
For eternal truth: listen to the birds sing.
Seeking the mind: there is no place to look;
Can you see the footprints of flying birds?”
- Zenrin |
The Mind
When we come to meditation of any tradition, we will be asked to calm our minds, focus our minds, or even simply become aware of our minds. We can be in our right minds, out of our minds, monkey minds, or for some of us, minefields. But which mind, what mind, are we looking for? What mind are we working with?
The rational, thinking mind is the one we most associate with the brain, with intelligence. That mind excels at solving problems, gathering data, analyzing it and developing conclusions...READ MORE
The Bad Meditation and the Search
for “Neverwads”
“That was nothing but a grocery list.”
“The most irritating song kept looping through my brain.”
“All I could think of was how pisssed I am at my ex-wife”
“I didn’t remember what you told us to do and I think I fell asleep –
actually I was drooling!”
I hear comments like this all the time, in fact I could add many of my own.
Everyone who practices meditation understands why the activity is called “practice”. We sit, we sit, we practice just sitting, letting the thoughts, emotions and memories come and go, allowing them to peak and settle so a different aspect of mind can arise. One that is expansive, clear and still. We sit to enjoy a liberated, peaceful aspect of our human nature – or, at least that’s our intention. It doesn’t always come to pass...READ MORE
Freedom, Meditation and the Fourth of July
We all want freedom and consider it to be intrinsic to our sense of happiness and well-being. Willingly or not, healthily or destructively, each of us is socialized within our families, communities and culture; we are taught how to get long. Eventually, getting along can become an insidious form of oppression.
The great opportunity the fourth of July provides to celebrate out freedom and independence as a nation can also be used to examine the notion of spiritual freedom in our personal lives. The Declaration of Independence is a spiritual manifesto and a road map for this journey...READ MORE
