Be the space where life happens, not just the person it happens to.
Tag: Zen
Impermanence is the Way
Alterity is the way. Even now I’m becoming someone new. Best to embrace it, I’d say.
The Drifting Days
Things are always in the process of becoming other than what they are, that’s the drift. Everything’s in transit, the bags are already packed.
The question is, can we let it be that way?
Taking Time to Feel
The mind is like a pair of shoes. We wear them all the time, but we’re not usually all that aware of them. They pick up bits and pieces of the places we go. Sand, dirt, mud, dust, shit, and piss—whatever we step in, we pick up. If we don’t pay attention, then our shoes […]
Why Meditate?
Today I described Chan meditation like this to a friend: Grass grows, wolves howl, Buddhas sit.
Death & Eternal Oblivion
Sometimes, when I wake up after a deep, dreamless sleep, I think, “Thanks for the free sample of nothingness, asshole.” I’m not sure who the “asshole” is directed toward. Old habits from my God worshiping days, perhaps. I miss God sometimes; God gives us something to scream at. Thinking about eternal oblivion the second you […]
Living with the Void (Meaning & Mental Illness)
Buddhism doesn’t have a monopoly on emptiness. When it sailed across the Pacific and set up shop in the West, it found itself in a land with its own views and temperaments toward absence. To keep the dialogue going, we can’t just bring Zen to the West, we also have to bring the West to […]
Niutou Farong on Meditation
I recently translated Farong’s Xin Ming (Song of Mind). Unlike the Xinxin Ming, I’m not gonna post that one online, because I’m probably gonna put them both in a book, and I’ve been told that it’s unwise to blog everything you’re putting in a book since then people have no reason to buy it haha. […]
How to be an Animal
It’s no secret that my cat is happier than I am. She seems to live mostly at ease with life, and definitely at ease with herself. She naps, wakes up, eats, drinks, plays with stuff, and occasionally asks for affection or pees on the microwave. She doesn’t worry about the future or get depressed by […]
Emptiness as Procedure, Sudden & Gradual Awakening, Advaita & Zen
Yeah, I know… not the catchiest of titles. But, this is an exhausting post, so I figured I’d just lay it all out there. I’m gonna start with the conclusion by saying that you can just skip all of this if you 1) Wish all beings well, and help out however you can, 2) Don’t […]
