This is not a Koan…
What is a Koan?
Quit the Tribe, or… What are We? Mistake Theorists or Conflict Theorists?
A few months ago in a NY Times op-ed, David Brooks laid out a theory. He summarized our current polarization as a battle between Mistake Theorists and Conflict Theorists. Mistake Theorists—a term coined by Slate Star Codex blogger Scott Alexander—believe that world’s complexities are a product of error and incompetence. Like the way comedians see […]
Quiz Test
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Ten Things I Question
No proselytizing. No endorsements. No political ax to grind. Just ten things I wonder about: The Buddha teaches us to see things as they are, without the overlay of ego. But if I do, and what I see reflects what I already believe, am I doing it right? Or have I always been seeing things […]
What the Mirror Saw, by Lucille Clifton
What the Mirror Saw, by Lucille Clifton I discovered this today. Sometimes, just let something perfect be what it is.
What the Buddha Means when He Talks about Emptiness: The Thoughtless Thought
Our president talks thoughtlessly, but that’s not what I mean by the Thoughtless Thought, nor is it what the Buddha means when he talks about emptiness. I’m talking about a few weekends ago when I listened to Radio Lab’s story Emergence, which began by speaking about a river in Thailand where at night thousands of […]
Delusions are our Teachers
People ask—what should I do when thoughts arise during my meditation? The question suggests the meditator is doing something wrong. Thinking is not allowed while meditating. In a dualistic way of seeing things, if I am thinking I must not be meditating. If I am meditating, I should not have thoughts. In the Winter 2017 […]
How Commandments are different than Precepts.
In Buddhism, we don’t have commandments. Growing up Catholic, I learned about commandments. There are ten of them. They are a code of ethics handed down by God to Moses on Mount Sinai, divided into three commandments about treating God right, and seven about treating our fellow humans right. God’s passing down these Ten […]
4 Ways of Loving
I am a student. I am a searcher. I look for a teacher. I look for what the world teaches, and what I can learn from others. These are the hardest lessons. I read recently that Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn says the path to learning is through love. He said the 4 Ways of […]
