I had employed a practice that I’ve only recently been taught: positioning my awareness slightly on the positive or leaving side of my heartbeat. I had no idea of its meaning, yet the instant I turned to this practice a realization immediately emerged.
To be clear, I'm not declaring an understanding here. Rather, I'm simply sharing realizations that instantly emerged when I began practicing something I didn't understand.
Read MoreThe Seven Fundamental Principles for Standing in the Face of the Truth represent a relationship between the balance and harmony of standing in the face of the truth. There are many, many forms of truth that can matter in countless ways. In understanding the Seven Fundamental Principles better, it’s important to be mindful of what they are addressing.
Read MoreBalance and Harmony’ is an often-used phrase that sounds good on paper but isn’t always so easy to achieve. Quietly residing between those two seven letter words lays a simple three letter word — ‘and.’ As we shall see, it’s all in the ‘and,’ because hiding in that modest conjunction are five secret principles to improved balance and harmony. The power of the ‘and’ reveals how to transition from Balance to Harmony.
Read More“The golden flower symbolizes the quintessence of the paths of Buddhism and Taoism. Gold stands for the light, the light of the mind itself; the flower represents the blossoming, or opening up, of the light of the mind. Thus the expression is emblematic of the basic awakening of the real self and its hidden potential.
In Taoist terms, the first goal of the Way is to restore the original God-given spirit and become a self-realized human being.”
Read MoreI attended three comprehensive lectures and several initiations given by HH Dalai Lama this past weekend and I was attentive to each of his messages, his reasoning, his concerns and warnings and what he said was mandatory to understanding and effective practice. I took his suggestions to heart and practiced what he suggested while listening to him, after the lectures were over, during our group discussions, in between the discussions, in my meditation time, when I was driving, when we were eating and even when I was feeling tired and ill. I tested his teachings in every application I could find and they held up well for me. They did not hold as well when they were not practiced and when they were not understood it was hard to practice them.
Read MoreA year or two after she died, my sister appeared in a dream. She said she was fine, everything was okay. And she also happened to mention that while everything is okay, there was something she really missed: Mexican food. She kind of made a big deal out of that.
Read MoreI tend to think of the mind as a series of deeper and deeper concentric circles, perhaps like a vortex. The further down/inward we go, the more aware we become that no matter the depth, the thoughts are still ours. The voice in our head is always us.
Read MoreThe emergence of an everyday calling sounds far different than the ringing of temple bells or the melodic chants crying out in a Buddhist monastery or Catholic convent. Because what we frequently encounter in today’s world can be the lonely inner cry of any one of us.
Read MoreAn elder is not an old person. Nor is an old person necessarily an elder.
Read More“Where is the Monastery of Nothingness?” asked the woman.
The old master glanced up and said, “Where do you think?”
Read MoreAt first glance, improvement seems simple. It’s about making something better. And viewed from that single perspective, it is simple.
It seems simple because we are restraining our focus point, limiting our perspective so that a particular level of complexity appears relatively simple unto itself. Yet, as we look at the variables listed below, the dimensionality of something as seemingly simple as improvement quickly expands.
Read MoreEveryone is trying to improve. Even people who’ve stopped trying, or who excel at being bullies, or those who encourage divisiveness. We are all are located somewhere on the continuum.
Self improvement, in a sense, is less about whether we are improving and more about how conscious and deliberate we are in the process, and what we are choosing to focus on.
Read MoreEveryday life monks and nuns don't have the so-called luxury (or punishing difficulties) of retreating to caves, retreating from everyday life. We must, instead, practice our callings within the context of family life, traffic, working a job, being a student, amidst illness, being caregivers or even living on the street. We must also practice in a world that does not support the notion of an inner journey.
Read MoreMy own work here seems foolish. I have no idea whether anyone reads it or not. I’m rarely contacted. When I die, my website subscription will expire with me. That's partly because no one seems interested enough to carry it on, and partly because I haven't written any books to leave behind, books that may themselves never be discovered much less actually read.
I think part of the reason for this is that I don’t sell t-shirts, coffee mugs and clever stickers. Or maybe I am talking over people’s heads, or I’m seen as just talking out my ass on topics that are perceived as irrelevant. And there’s also the scratchy issue of not being rich or famous, not being an influencer. Actually, I’ve probably lost work/business since I decided years ago not to hide the monastery behind my personal anonymity. I don’t wave flags about it, but it’s not all that hard to search out. Anyway, however you cut it, a life’s work will disappear without notice.
Read MoreMartial arts often focus on an elusive concept characterized by the term 'center'. Students are introduced to this concept early in their training. In that context, instructors may emphasize various essential self-defense concepts such as, "Move the body as a unit, not as isolated parts." Over time, these vague concepts slowly crystalize into a series of realizations. When we examine our approach to our start-ups within the context of martial arts principles, we can see similarities emerging out of our own, unique 'everyday life dojos'.
Read MoreI was in my brand new Jiu Jitsu gi (uniform) for the first time. I was 39 years old, needing something but not really sure what that ‘something’ was. I had all kinds of insecurity, but I couldn’t admit it. And all this tension built up in my shoulders and neck.
When I looked in the mirror I didn’t see any signs of tension. I saw a swimmer’s tapered physique. That wedge look made sense to me: I swam a lot. So this is how I looked when I hesitantly walked into my first Jiu Jitsu class in 1990… fit and ready. At least that’s what I thought.
Read More“My personal break from the mold was a gradual discovery of what worked and what didn’t” particularly resonated with me, too.
‘Mysticism’ is about doing, rather than about thinking or feeling (some might say it is about being, which is true, but in the sense of how one’s state of being is transformed by exposure, experience and practice, rather than through trying to be a certain way, which is just imitation).
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