Epilogue for Joy Thru Movement
Let’s talk about energy for a bit. While food is necessary, and we do derive some vitality from it, the true energy is the result of the Chi (Prana). If it were only a matter of food, an overweight person, or one who ate great [...]
Prana At Work
One of the hardest things for a beginner to understand is the fact that there must be physical changes for spiritual changes to take place. We are so used to thinking of spiritual as being something ephemeral that we cannot at all relate it to [...]
The Meaning of Suffering
The Buddha, 2500 years ago, pointed out that three conditions are common to all beings: impermanence, lack of any lasting ego-self, and suffering. Dukkha (suffering) means more than pain as the opposite of pleasure, and the Buddha said that such suffering is the inevitable result [...]
Meditation Classifications: An Introduction to Different Modes
Few people, and particularly teachers, have had the opportunity to be exposed to diverse types of meditation, so that many do not know that there are different forms. Far fewer have had the opportunity to experience – and train in – more than one type, [...]
All Things Are As They Have Always Been
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 others. When one Zen teacher continually counsels his followers to “rest in [...]
The Guru Business
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, ready to kiss their feet and gift them with fruit and [...]
Satipatthana
There are many types of meditation resulting in trance states, complete relaxation, intense concentration or wide-awake focusing on the now. None of these, in the writer’s opinion, has the majesty of the Satipatthana meditation, the Way of Mindfulness. This meditation is all encompassing, and soon [...]
Just What Is Spirituality?
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 make reference to ancient concepts and use terms that are just vaguely [...]
Abandon Hope
“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. Quite the contrary, it is the way to wake up [...]
