Latest writings

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="387" caption="Anacapa - Channel Island National Park"][/caption] Master Ling Shun visits Master Gue-Zhun and ask him: "What is the Buddha?" "If I tell you, would you believe it?" "How can I not trust master's words?" "You are the Buddha!" "How can I maintain this?" "Once…

Zen has the idea of the beginner's mind - a mind that is fresh and alive. Sometimes I wonder how you can practice beginner's mind when meditation is all about focusing on one thing only - it seems a very stagnant way of using the mind. One would at first think to practice beginner's mind is to keep it moving, keep everything "new". But actually the best way is just the opposite; it is only through repetitiveness that we…

Just as the changing color of a single leaf reveals the arrival of autumn, understanding the individual can lead to an understanding of the Collective. * I don't know a lot of Buddhist monks. Before I edited Just Use This Mind, my exposure to monks in general was limited…

The common explanation of this teaching is always with regard to the written words of the Buddha, who taught what many considered as conventional truths - concepts and practices that addressed only particular situations. The sutras, the recorded teachings of the Buddha, has therefore been categorized into those containing conventional truths and those containing universal truth that is without exception. The recommendation…

When we are uplifted, we do not deliberately change anything . After all, nothing is carried into this moment. Instead, we use the mind to generate a better function. If, in this moment, you can generate a smiling thought instead of a crying thought, you are actively uplifting yourself. So, each moment is one of liberation in which you are set free. It is not that you are changing a negative karma to a positive…