What is the traditional Buddhist cosmology? In brief, there are three realms: the heavenly realm, animal realm, and lower realms, each realm hosting its own unique characteristics, but all are impermanent. The heavenly realm has an interesting cast of characters. You’ve got your local nature spirits that live in
Are there other realms of existence? I’ve got to admit, I’m skeptical. On the one hand, I’ve had some weird experiences. Friends as well. And there are so many other people with similar experiences throughout the world. This all makes me think that maybe there really is
I’ve grown up hearing this word, karma, especially when I go to yoga studios or talk to some of my more spiritual friends. I have some sense of it, but what does it mean in Zen? Karma comes from the Sanskrit word for action, but in the older texts,
Picking off from last time. Huh? Who were you talking to there? Ohhh…nobody. Nobody at all. Ummmm….ok. Now I’ll go through the five key concepts one by one. Please forgive me for not going into too much detail, as this’ll just be a big picture explanation.
What is Zen in a nuthsell? This is it. Huh? Just take a moment to stop and rest in this moment as it is. Without meddling. Without interference. Without commentary. Without longing for it to be any different. This is it. I kind of get it. It’s just this…
Germanic tribes launch devastating raid after devastating raid into your lands. Whole families are pressed into slavery. Women raped and slaughtered. Children left abandoned for dead. Decades worth of agriculture, up in smokes. You try to defend against them, but they remain elusive or, when met in pitched battle, overwhelm
GG Allin was Dionysus in flesh. He shat on concert goers. Smashed bottles over his head. Punched fans in the face and started melees. He shoved a banana up his ass on stage - but, don't worry, that was only after throwing slurs and furniture at the college
I want to return again to the ever-sharp Takuan Soho on the question of what to put first: virtue or life. In one set of his now famed letters, he dedicates an entire letter to the question, approaching it in a variety of unique and cutting ways. One of the
One of my all time Zen favs is The Unfettered Mind by Takuan Soho, the great Rinzai master of the 16th century. The book consists of a series of letters exchanged between Master Takuan and a warrior, Yagyu Munenori. This book introduced me to the idea of seamless being. This
About a decade ago, I was dragged to the mandatory Christmas mass with the folks. I hated it. My brother, cousins, and I spent most of it finding ways to entertain ourselves until it got to the good part: the end. Mostly that consisted of a sustained guerrilla campaign of
