Wisdom — No More Unnecessary Suffering
On October 17, 2011
I have to admit that quite a lot of my suffering, heartache and misery are really due to my own stupidity. In the midst of an unpleasant episode, sometimes I would tell myself: if I were a bit wiser, I would have got myself out of this mess by now, or not get into [...]
Samadhi: A Unified Mind
On September 26, 2011
Whenever I come across the translation term, meditative stabilization, for the Sanskrit word, samadhi, it always strikes me as such a mouthful of multiple syllables. Such is the tough job of translation–being faithful to the original and meaningful to the new audience at the same time. Quite often, it pleases neither.
Mindfulness: Recollecting the Familiar
On September 19, 2011
In my brief survey of the different mental factors presented in the Buddhist teachings, I have arrived at a famous one: mindfulness (Skt., smrti; Tib., dran pa). A casual search on Google should easily return 13 millions entries related to this term. In a way, it is wonderful that something so closely connected to [...]
Conviction: Standing Firm
On August 29, 2011
When things are going well in our life, I think it is not so difficult to find our footing and stand firm on our principles. It is when we are challenged by the changes and uncertainties in life that we may feel the ground beneath us has somehow become shifting sands; like it or not, [...]
Aspiration: a guiding light
On August 18, 2011
So far, in this blog, I have written about the first five mental factors (feeling, perception, intention, contact, and attention) that perform different functions within each moment of our conscious experience. Now I would like to introduce yet another mental factor, aspiration. Simply put, it is the desire to achieve something. Unlike the previous five [...]
Attention, Attention, Attention
On August 4, 2011
There is a Zen story that goes like this (according to Zen Teacher Philip Kapleau in The Three Pillars of Zen):
One day a man of the people said to the Zen master Ikkyu: “Master, will you please write for me some maxims of the highest wisdom?” Ikkyu immediately took his brush and wrote the [...]
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