The Lesser Happiness and the Greater Happiness

Good day, everyone! Yesterday morning at the end of meditation I read these lines, from the Dhammapada (one of the oldest of the Buddhist sutras): “If one who enjoys a lesser happiness beholds a greater happiness, Let him leave aside … Read More

Have You Noticed How Self-Absorbed People Are?

Good day to you, folks! I wonder if you’re having the same experience as I am as you travel through the world and interact with people in various ways: have you noticed how self-absorbed people are? What do I mean … Read More

“Home” is a State of Being

Happy day to you, all! Yesterday I put out what for me has been a fun little koan, or spiritual puzzle, that comes from a sign I saw in town the other day. The sign that asserted this: “Home is … Read More

What is the Experience We Call “Home”?

Good morning, dharma-friends! Yesterday I spent some time ‘out in the world’, as we used to say at the monastery, and I saw some interesting things. I’ll include a photo of one of those things. It was a sign in … Read More

What People Do to Me Was Done to Them

Good morning, everyone, and happy day to you! Yesterday I outlined my favorite and really my only conspiracy theory, which is, in short, that the collection of unconscious processes that we call ‘conditioned mind’ is the thing that is in … Read More

The Profound Conspiracy

Many blessings to you, friends, on this beautiful spring day! I’m not into conspiracy theories in the way that some people are. The popular conspiracies that people indulge in seem to me to be mere distractions from the primary, profound … Read More

Meditation is Hard, and It Works

During a conversation the other day, a friend confessed that the quality of her meditation is somewhat pathetic. She sits down on the cushion, she told me, and tries to direct her attention, but pretty much the whole time she’s … Read More

“Zazen is Looking Into One’s Own Mind”

Hello, everyone! I’d like to share something with you today from Bassui, a Zen master who lived in Japan in the 14th century. This is an excerpt from one of his talks. What he says here has been said by … Read More

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