Abandon Hope

The Indian people speak of Shakti, Kundalini, and Prana. Japanese call it Ki as in aikido. And the Chinese speak of Chi, the Vital Force, or Intrinsic Energy, that makes us one with the [...]

“Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.” This would appear to be the opposite of everything we believe in, the death blow to our expectation of living a full and fulfilled life. But it isn't. [...]

It was a rainy day in Kyoto, with the mist hanging low over the eastern mountain much like a Hiroshige woodblock print. In my small, two-and-a-half-mat room in the Zen temple, my meditation was [...]

Devotion cultures the heart. When adoration does not selfishly demand a return, there is a yearning toward something greater than ourselves. We lose ourselves in the immensity of the beloved; we are nothing and [...]

“Lead me from the Unreal to the Real.” This is the great Vedantic prayer that represents
the height of spirituality. In the realm of illusion,
we inevitably find misery; we are bound and unable to exist in [...]

The guru business is good and getting better. Almost
 any teacher or would-be teacher from India, Tibet, China, or Japan can come to the United States wearing robes and immediately acquire a coterie of followers, [...]