The world never stops but we can at any time. I do every day – snatching a quiet reflective breath whenever I think of it, or perhaps 20 minutes before breakfast. But sometimes, it is good to take more time, to go deeper, to spend time with your loved ones so that relationships are fresh and alive and not running on AI.
Human experience, perceived and filtered through the deeply conditioned and unconscious belief in a separate, inherently existent self, is pure fiction. The ultimate goal of meditation, from a Buddhist perspective, is to remove these faulty perceptual filters, and to free the individual from the confusion and negative consequences of being lost in delusion. Wisdom is …
Meditation – More than Simply Powerful Self Care Read More »
“There is no path to peace, peace is the path.” Gandhi Reading the story of how one woman, tuned in to trauma dynamics, helped deescalate a hostage situation, brought back memories of my own brush with a potentially violent situation. Unfortunately, the incident last week at a Trader Joe’s in California resulted in an innocent …
I frequently get questions about whether acupuncture can help certain conditions. In general, the answer is usually yes, with some caveats. The number one reason people seek acupuncture is to alleviate pain. Acupuncture works great for that. In my own case, I had reconstructive knee surgery in 1990. Afterwards, the surgeon said that out of …
Learn to love your enemies, practice deep sharing with all life, develop true understanding of the truth of interconnectedness with all life. Walk on.
Zen meditation uses koans to help one learn not to be deceived by language, or the confused mind that superimposes concrete, separate identities on things. When one learns not to be deceived by language and deceptive mental habits, there is freedom.
Spiritual freedom, and even worldly happiness are subject experiences which are difficult to quantify, and impossible to transfer to another. As the saying goes, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” Nonetheless, modern scientific research continues to make huge strides in understanding the neurological and emotional benefits of mental states like mindfulness and compassion.
“Diversity work is like running a marathon”. “Diversity work is like drinking a glass of water.” “Diversity work is like standing at the edge of a cliff”. “Diversity work is like entering a hornet’s nest”. There are no right answers and depending upon where one stands, all of them hold pieces of the truth. Where do you stand?
In Eastern Medicine, and Buddhism, there is a very wide understanding of the universe and reality which balances light with dark, death with life. In Autumn Light, I discussed these perspectives a bit and I hope to add to that in the coming days and weeks as time permits. Meanwhile, please consider this information with care. The implications are profoundly disturbing and you may be confronted with deep level fears and grief – our inner dragons that we need to train.
“The fluctuation of our body and life is like a bubble of water; remember death for we perish so quickly. After death, the effects of negative and positive karma pursue us as a shadow follows a body. Finding certainty in this, I request inspiration to always be careful to abandon even the slightest negative action and to complete the accumulation of virtue.” (Lama Tsong Khapa)
