About Zen — Intention

Our Minds Incline Toward Our Thoughts

When talking about intention (a.k.a., resolve, thought) in practice, Buddha said that our minds incline toward whatever we frequently think about. If we think about sensuality, cruelty and ill-will, he said, then we let go of…

About Zen-Buddha’s Four Immeasurables

From Richard Powers’s novel, Bewilderment

Theo Byrne, the protagonist in Richard Powers’s novel, Bewilderment, reminds his son, Robbie, that Robbie’s deceased mother, Alyssa, used to chant the phrase, “May all sentient beings be free from…

About Zen — Diligent, Ardent, and Resolute

How Buddha Described His Own Practice

Buddha described his own practice as diligent, ardent, and resolute. Diligent in his deeply caring about what he was doing (as well as not doing), and in being conscientious, always thorough…

About Zen — Speaking Truthfully, Beneficially, and Endearingly

Buddha taught in the Magga Vibhanga Sutra that right speech (right being not right or wrong, but that which leads to happiness for ourselves and others) is no lying, no speech that divides and separates people, no abusive…

Earnest Practice

Truth, goodness, harmony, and beauty manifest spontaneously and effortlessly, when experienced in full awareness. This awareness does not make use of things and people. It fulfills them. The process is neither difficult nor protracted. Earnestness is the only condition of success.

[Nisargadatta]