Entries Tagged ‘Zen’:
filed in Spirituality, Uncategorized, Zen on Sep.25, 2009
Overall, I think the sin I struggled with most during my trip to San Diego was envy. I’d like to discuss this at length, but I’m tired and would like to make it to work on time tomorrow – even if it is a Friday. So this will be short.
[Famous last words of Ted [...]
Tags: bengal tigers and lifeboats, Dan Millman, Life of Pi, solitude, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, Yann Martel, Zen
filed in Zen on Sep.15, 2009
My zen-a-day calendar has been a bit list-happy for the past few days. Yesterday’s quote (which is today’s quote for me, because you’re now reading something that was written in the past (yay time capsules)) was, I thought (try to follow me, here dear reader, without criticizing my tense-usage), pretty darned apropos and pragmatically…well…Zen:
Get enough [...]
Tags: pragmatic, pragmatism, Zen
filed in Philosophy, Zen on Sep.15, 2009
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about ego deflation in the last couple of days. I was speaking with a friend of mine this evening, and she passed along this aphorism: “10% of life is what happens to us, 90% is our reaction to it.”
Now, what I’m wondering is if we follow the “kill self [...]
Tags: calculus, Ego, ego deflation, kill self now, mind-fucking, procrastination, Tao, Zen, zen calculus
filed in Spirituality, Zen on Aug.19, 2009
So I walked in to Barnes & Noble tonight and asked the girl at the help desk if she could point me in the direction of the self-help section. Her reply: “Wouldn’t that be defeating the purpose?”
Joke.
I know full well where the self-help section of the B&N is – it’s like the section on [...]
Tags: yoga, Zen
filed in Books, Zen on Jul.19, 2009
Today’s hike was a good one. Jack said it was “pretty easy”, then promptly fell asleep in the car for half an hour. On the way back we stopped at the Rosendale street festival to see our friends Johnny and Nicole. It was pretty interesting. I checked out some of Johnny’s art and bought some [...]
Tags: Brad Warner, Dan Millman, Hardcore Zen, Meditation, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, Zazen, Zen
filed in Hiking, Zen on Jul.18, 2009
Thank you, Scott, for lending me The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman. I can’t say that it’s life-changing just yet, but I’m only halfway through. Perhaps I’ve read too many books about zen at this point to be particularly disturbed by his implications thusfar. We’ll see – I still have the other [...]
Tags: Blackhead Mountain, Pride, Rationalization, Self-Justification, Zen
filed in Zen on Jun.16, 2009
So that busy patch at work is pretty much over, for the moment. It looks like I’ll have a few days of breathing space before I have to start busting my ass on another needs-to-get-done-in-a-month project. Yay. Definitely no more 12-16 hour days for this weary blogger. I left work at like 6 today, and [...]
Tags: gratitude list, self-pity, smiling, Zen
filed in Philosophy, Spirituality, Zen on Apr.22, 2009
Every morning, I read from two different sets of meditations. This is the third year in a row that I’ve been reading from the Page-a-Day Zen calendar (“zen-a-day” in my head) – each year, the readings are different. The other slot is a rotating one. This year, “God Calling” by A. J. Russell fills that [...]
Tags: A.J. Russell, agnostic, God, God Calling, joy, Khalil Gibran, seeker, work, Zen
filed in Philosophy, Spirituality, Zen on Jan.21, 2009
Of the things that interested me about the study and practice of Zen were statements like “chop wood, fetch water, seek enlightenment”. Statements that Zen is intensely practical piqued my interest. I’ve stated before that I’m a Pragmatist (“do what works”). I came to this conclusion on my own, through experience and study – but [...]
Tags: D. T. Suzuki, Meditation, sun-walking, yoga, Zen
filed in Philosophy, Spirituality, Zen on Jan.20, 2009
I’ve read about many different forms of meditation: moon-walking, sun-walking, yoga, wall staring, zazen, etc. The books relating to Zen Buddhism I’ve read that have been written by westerners stress zazen as the sine qua non of Zen practice. Zazen itself takes many forms (koan meditation, etc.), but the central idea is sitting still – which [...]
Tags: Meditation, moon-walking, sun-walking, yoga, Zazen, Zen