When someone covers our eyes with their hand, but we still have our eyes open, we can see their hand. When we close our eyes our mind is telling us we can no longer see, as we have our eyes shut, yet if we concentrate we can see the inside of our eyelids and whatever … Continue reading Seeing
Karma
Far from being some mythical force of fear, that is waiting around the corner to catch up with us eventually, karma is concept, and often a resulting factor of the need to control. When we feel we need to control a situation rather than just allow it to be what it is, we are starting … Continue reading Karma
Satori
The sudden and intuitive way of seeing into anything, whether it be remembering a forgotten name or seeing into the deepest principles of Buddhism. One seeks and seeks, but one cannot find. One then gives up, and the answer comes by itself.* We have all experienced this on some level or other, whether we were … Continue reading Satori
Wish
How often a day do we wish for something, how often a week, a month? I wish I had a bigger house, a newer car, a better job. I wish she wouldn't say that, I wish that wouldn't happen. Our wishes are endless. And our wishes are all centred around the ego. I wish. How … Continue reading Wish
Thankfulness
Life supplies us with everything we need. Every day we have air to breathe and wonder to fill us with awe. There is energy which feeds the soul, if we recognise it and allow it into our lives. The blade of grass in spring-time, so pure and green, sprouting from the earth, bathing in the … Continue reading Thankfulness
Mind-Body
Mind-Body We cannot separate mind from body nor body from mind in this realm within which we dwell. When we are hungry we feel it in both, just as when we are angry our mind flares with the emotion as our heart race quickens and our stomachs clench. When we train our bodies, we train … Continue reading Mind-Body
Sleep walking
What is it to be aware? To be awake? We believe that at night we fall asleep and dream, and when the light comes we wake and are conscious beings, interacting with the world around us. We use our senses and feel emotions, we reason and use our intelligence to solve problems, or grow our … Continue reading Sleep walking
Possession
All at once the mind is taken over - there is no room for ought else, this one thought rules all and we are possessed by it. Love, lust, infatuation - this is what is does to us. It leaves the most grounded and logical of us dumbfounded. Every-day matters fade into insignificance and whether … Continue reading Possession
Purpose
When we sit zazen, we are sitting facing a wall, inert, and often people who do not sit question why we do it, what we are doing, what are we trying to achieve. Zazen is all about balance. Physically we are balancing our bodies, not leaning too far forward, nor too far backwards, but straight … Continue reading Purpose
Unconditional
We are complex creatures. We think, we analyse, we feel emotions at in-depth levels and we can abuse our ‘intelligence’ all too easily through mis-use. We only have to look at the use of the media, and advertising in particular, to see how manipulative humans can be – and at times it is very blatant, … Continue reading Unconditional
Zen musings 