They say that Zen is a system of contradictions and that just when we think we are beginning to understand it, it turns things on their head and we are back to square one. This is a deliberate way of helping us to change our perspective and not to become trapped by our own thought … Continue reading Being
Tag: understanding
Interpretation
The human language can be incredibly complicated. An apt example at this wintery time of year is the oral concept of snow. It is understood the Inuits have over 50 words for arctic conditions, and the Russians have 70. The Scots are said to have over 400! If you read the word saw, what would … Continue reading Interpretation
The Search
When we are little, we learn about growing up and long for it to rush upon us. Toddlers wear the big shoes of their parents, young girls watch with awe while their mothers apply makeup, young boys watch their fathers as they shave. It appears a compliment to be told ‘you’re so grown up’. Teenagers … Continue reading The Search
Absolute Truth
There is an ancient Indian parable regarding a group of blind men, none of which has ever come across an elephant before. They are each presented with a different aspect of a real elephant to touch and discover. One holds its trunk believing it to be like a snake. Another feels its legs, announcing it … Continue reading Absolute Truth
Harmony
What come to mind when you think of harmony? Everyone working together? World peace? No arguments or strife? A piece of music may come to mind, the harmonious chords resonating with each other to create a stirring sound...but when we think of it in these terms, we realise that with harmony also comes division. A … Continue reading Harmony
Reality
A well known saying states that love is blind. This can be true in the fact that people can fall in love with one another because of who they are inside, despite whether they find each other physically attractive or not. The idea follows that the more we fall for someone, the more attractive their … Continue reading Reality
Dreams
Waking life wallows in the indulgencies of the word-hoard. Words spin webs of deception and delusion. They shape and falsify our experience...serving human masters of fear and vanity.* We are captives of our own intelligence. We label everything in a bid to master it, under the guise of understanding. There is nothing we experience which … Continue reading Dreams
Anger
When we hold a burning coal in our fist, it is only ourselves we burn, just as when we drink poison, we damage only our insides. Once two men, who had been imprisoned and tortured together forty years previously, met by chance on the wayside. After catching up one man asked the other, 'have you … Continue reading Anger
Walking the line
Life is full of opposites - great joy, deep grief, love and hate, right and wrong - and it's a fine line to walk between them. We are here, we are alive and part of that is experiencing life to the full, the full range - to do justice to our existence. But at the … Continue reading Walking the line
Zen musings 