22Oct/17

The 6 Senses

10/22/2017awareness, buddhism, meditationbuddhism, divine, mind, six senses, teachingTCN

Human beings have six sense organs in common. So if there is a practice that leads to enlightening insight and even enlightenment through any of these senses, anyone can do that practice and advance spiritually.

18Oct/17

7 Possible Places to Locate the Divine Source

10/18/2017buddhism, Buddhist teachings, buddhist text, dharma, meditation, sacred text, shakyamuni buddha, shurangamabuddha, buddhism, mind, shakyamuni, shurangama, source, teaching, wisdomTCN

Where is the divine Source? If the Source is a father figure God in the sky for you, you may resolutely proclaim that God is UP there. If you’ve been meditating to the point that you’re just blissed out and could careless about the world, you may lift your gaze from your navel and slowly utter the words, “In here.” If you’re a nature lover who is fond of hiking, the whistles of the leaves, and the sounds of the birds, you may claim that the Source is everywhere in nature, in creatures large and small. What’s the right answer? Is there a right answer? Well, let me recount seven incorrect answers for you first.

20Aug/17

11 Steps to Listening: a Buddhist Meditative Practice

08/20/2017buddhism, Buddhism Buddhist teachings scripture teacher advice patience text sacred learning Chinese English, buddhist, Buddhist canon, Buddhist teachings, listening, meditation, practice, spiritual, zenbuddhism, listening, meditation, shurangamaTCN

1. Find an uninterrupted period of time, whether five minutes or an hour. 2. Find a quiet place that you can hopefully establish as your sacred space for regular practice. 3. Sit down on a cushion or your bed. It helps to have a cushion or pillow below your buttocks. Sit with your legs crossed.

10Aug/17

8 Types of Sounds

08/10/2017buddhism, listening, shurangamabuddhism, listening, meditation, shurangama, silence, soundTCN

What types of sounds do you tend to notice? Pleasant sounds or unpleasant sounds? Music or noise? Loud sounds or white noise? A preeminent Chinese Buddhist teacher, Master Jiaoguang, developed some illuminating and useful categories of sounds for people who practice listening as a meditation. Check and see if you…

10Aug/17

8 Listening Exercises

08/10/2017buddhist, Buddhist teachings, listening, shurangama, spiritual, zenbuddhism, emptiness, listening, shurangama, sound of silence, zenTCN

1. Listen for the sounds around you now: people’s voices, TV, music, cars, chirps, breeze. . . Stop what you’re doing. For three seconds, still yourself and hear what’s around you. 2. Listen for the sound of silence. Turn off any noise in your control. At a time when all’s…

07Aug/17

8 Reflections on Suffering upon Rising from Practice

08/07/2017buddhist, Buddhist teachings, religious, spiritual, sufferingbuddhist, emotion, healing, liberation, pain, suffering, worldTCN

First, “practice” in the Buddhist sense is that it is a regular and consistent sacred routine that you engage in on the spiritual path. It is often compared to nurturing a seed with nutrients consistently until it blossoms. “Practice” also in the sense that it is always evolving. I hesitate…

13Jun/17

7 Paradoxical Teachings in Buddhism

06/13/2017buddhism, buddhist, Buddhist teachings, guanyin, heart, listening, spiritual, wisdom, zenbuddhism, emptiness, hearing, listening, practice, public speaking, sacred, speaking, thought, voicesTCN

Typically, we reject contradictions. Buddhists, however, embrace a number of oxymora that serve as levers for opening into profundity likened to light at the end of the tunnel. The unexpected folding into of what is unfolding, and the unfolding of that which is enfolded bend our conscious mind so that…

09Mar/17

6 Buddhist Antidotes to Suffering

03/09/2017buddhism, dharma, meditation, suffering, Uncategorizedantidote, being, buddhism, compassion, healing, meditation, misery, pain, practice, sufferingTCN

Since evicted from a U.S. monastic order about eight years ago, I have been told many times that I suffer because of my karma, bad karma. Often this sentiment is coming from those I presume to be perpetrating intentional harm. This sentiment also becomes a sort of shaming and humiliation…

13Feb/17

5 Buddhist Observations about Life being Awesome

02/13/2017buddhism, Buddhism Buddhist teachings scripture teacher advice patience text sacred learning Chinese English, buddhist, Buddhist teachings, life, religion, religiousawesome, buddha, buddhist, ethics, life, precept, teachingTCN

1. We get to choose that which shapes us. Words shape us. Words originate from thoughts. Thoughts matter – a Buddhist belief. Buddhists hardly use the word awesome. Buddhists hardly use the word awesome to describe life. It is awesome that I am using the word here now and using…

12Feb/17

A Word of Caution before You Access Vinaya Texts for Ordained Monks and Nuns

02/12/2017Buddhist teachings, buddhist text, translationbhiksu, bhiksuni, buddhist, ethics, monk, nun, ordained, preceptTCN

In the vinaya, or code of discipline, section of the Buddhist canon, texts on precepts for ordained monks and nuns are only for them to access. In those texts, the Buddha specifically requested that anyone who has not accepted the several hundred bhikṣu and bhikṣuṇī precepts to leave the area.…