Spiritual Odyssey

My first day and night in the Himalayas were quite hectic. Contact with a Yogi, who was a friend of mine, led to my agreeing to meet him in Hardwar at noon on [...]

With regularity of practice, the deeper meanings of T’ai Chi Chih become evident after some time. If one does not practice regularly, it is like a pianist who does finger exercises once every [...]

I have stayed with Yogis, in the Himalayan foothills, who are masters of Prana, the Sanskrit word for Chi. They seem to be impervious to the cold and hunger. Since we ate only [...]

Teachers and students are constantly asking me to write a book on “Ultimate Truth.” If I did so, they would resent the very “truth” they asked for, as it would threaten the ground [...]

Two important terms in Japanese Zen are muga and mushin. The latter means “no mind,” but not in the usual sense. It means the kind of mind that does not react, like a [...]

Tantra says that every cell of the body can be brought to a point of Bliss. If one will do T’ai Chi Chih and then remain quiet for a period of time – [...]

Many books are being written by sociologists and psychologists, in which they glibly speak of “higher consciousness” and “Enlightenment,” without in the least knowing what they are talking about. It is fashionable to [...]

People often speak of “higher consciousness.” A man is coming from another state to videotape me in a research project to find those in “higher consciousness.” The truth is, there is no such [...]

Most people who come for T’ai Chi Chih lessons do it for physical reasons, either because of ailments or because they feel it will help them in the areas of energy, hypertension, and [...]

As soon as we have words we have concepts. No matter how articulate the speaker, how believable the teacher, using words forces the speaker to form concepts in order to convey ideas to [...]

The relationship between teacher and pupil is a very noble one in the history of Spiritual Practice. Never, in the history of such relationships, had I ever heard of a chela (or monk, [...]

In 43 years of following a spiritual path, what has always amazed me is that my own inner experience has very seldom coincided with the written and spoken teaching I had been exposed [...]