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Darkness Before Light

1/31/2017

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We learn that life is a struggle between the forces of light and darkness.  Buddhism sees the conflict as between your heart and your ego-mind.  In Christianity, it’s between God and the Devil.  

The Buddha and many holy men have taught that there can be no light without darkness, without first suffering you cannot learn how to free yourself from suffering.  In this line of thinking, we drift from the true Buddha nature or God-essence we were born with because without suffering first, we cannot live a truly spiritual life.  To be spiritual without having ever suffered is almost an oxymoron.  Our suffering grounds our spirituality.

I have certainly experienced personally, and I have observed it in many others, that until one reaches rock bottom in one’s suffering, an all-enveloping darkness, we do not have the motivation to change our habit-energy.  We cannot fully release ourselves from the emotions, judgments, cravings, or attachments that cause our suffering.  

No matter how strongly people may feel and honestly mean that, for example, they want an end to their addiction, until they hit rock bottom they will not be able to emerge and remain sober.  That is why, regardless the nature of the addiction, the typical scenario is that people return to their addiction over and over again.

During a recent meditation, I became aware that this personal lesson applies equally well to societies and nations.  Take for example anti-semitism.  It has existed for most of the Christian era and despite the fact that in the U.S. and other countries it is no longer politically correct to voice such feelings, they are still there not that far beneath the surface.

Only one society hit rock bottom with regard to this darkness … Germany.  Because of Hitler and the holocaust, the German people have taken it upon themselves, especially the post-WWII generations, to free themselves from this blight.  And they have been very thorough and disciplined about it.  They have gone far beyond passing laws making racial hate speech and action against the law.  Even today, 70 years after the end of the war, children are taught in the schools about the holocaust in a very unvarnished way so that they understand and will never countenance any form of anti-semitism.

The United States, unfortunately, has never dealt with its history of slavery and racial discrimination with anything close to the same determined thoroughness.   After the cataclysmic Civil War, nothing was done in the north or the south to rid the nation of this cancer on its soul.  Yes, the 14th amendment was passed guaranteeing the government’s equal treatment of all, but there was no accompanying national effort to root out racism and free ourselves of it once and for all.  And so it just festered.  

Almost a century later came the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v Board of Education, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and other laws which brought more legal equality to African-Americans, outlawing discrimination not just by the state but by corporations and individuals in many settings.  And while these laws brought about meaningful changes in the their lives, it did nothing to change the underlying racism and discrimination present throughout much of our society.

Why have we come such a little distance in this matter which is of such great importance to the soul and welfare of our country?  Part of the reason is that during the short period when the defenders of slavery were weak, immediately after the Civil War, the government did nothing to change the underlying pattern and reeducate people; the tactics of the Reconstruction Era were a farce and did more harm than good.  

After that short period, the defenders of racism became strong again; the white forces that opposed racism, relatively weak.  They had been, after all, primarily against slavery, not endemic racism, and slavery was no more.  Yes, a century later they managed to pass some needed laws, but doing what would have been necessary to cleanse the country was not even under discussion.  Partly because it would have meant cleansing the north of racism as well, and there would have been little support for that.  Partly because it was just taken as a given that racism would exist; it was not extinguishable.

Now the dark head of racism and bigotry has raised itself once again.  During the recent presidential election, the level of vilification leveled at various classes of Americans, and immigrants, by a major party candidate was unheard of in modern times.  And it has empowered a small core of Trump supporters to unleash its racial venom in the form of acts of violence and vandalism.

After the election, I urged the people to rise up in the spirit of Gandhi and MLK and demonstrate en masse in solidarity with all those being attacked as well as the long-suffering American worker through a new organization, American Solidarity, but to no avail.  See www.americansolidarity.org.

But after the President’s recent executive order barring entry to all people from seven Muslim-majority countries as well as all refugees from Syria, there has been a groundswell of protest across the country against what is seen as an assault on human rights and the historic openness of America.  

Everyone supports vetting travelers and refugees for possible terrorist leanings.  We need to protect the country from a very real danger.  But Trump’s action was over-broad, smacked of Islamophobia, and because of its incendiary nature was felt by many to actually increase the threat of terrorism not decrease it.

Will this outpouring of support for respect and against bigotry towards Muslims, caused by our current darkness, build into a movement that attacks the more deeply rooted racism and bigotry that America continues to labor under?  Or will we need to descend further into this pit so that the American people and government finally cannot escape what it needs to do in this matter?  


I certainly hope that we don’t need to descend so far.  On the other hand, I fear that if we don’t, the whole episode will be papered over and nothing fundamental will change.  The lives of Muslims, women, and LGBT people, even Latinos, will probably get back on track.  But for Blacks, their lives will remain basically the same as they have since the end of slavery.  Yes, they can stay in hotels, and eat in restaurants, and many blacks have risen out of poverty and have good jobs, but in more fundamental ways nothing has really changed.
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January 27th, 2017

1/27/2017

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As a Buddhist … Revisited Yet Again - How Do You Implement Moving Forward Without Having a Destination Point?

1/19/2017

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Back in June of 2015, I wrote a post, “As A Buddhist … Revisited Again - Do We Need To Know Where We’re Headed?” Recently, I realized in a conversation with a friend that I somehow failed in that post to discuss how one implements this idea.  How do you know what to do today, in the present, if you don’t think about where you want to be in the future?  If you don’t have a point B to head to?  Duh!

The answer is that you ask your heart each day, “What do I need to do today to do what’s best for me, to bring me peace and happiness?” Your heart will always answer in the present.   The answer may be, “I don’t need anything right now.  Just be.”  Or your heart may want you to check something out … whether it’s a new location to live, a new job, new social opportunities, whatever.  Or your heart may want you to change a habit-energy that is creating disharmony.  Obviously you have to be very sure that you’re listening to your heart and not your ego-mind.

Whatever your heart tells you you need to do today, that is what you should do.  And if it says, just be, than just be.  If your heart does tell you to look into something which clearly has future implications, don’t carry it any further.  Be present.  Don’t ask yourself, well what would it be like if I do such and such?  Will I be happy?  Will there be problems? What if … ?  Approach the task with equanimity.  Just gather the information your heart needs and it will be made use of in the present.

The point is that you don’t have to use your mind to decide where you want to end up.  What your goal is.   What if …?


“But how can that be?” the reader may well ask.  You just have to ask you heart what is best for you today.   Trust your heart.  And just as one moment builds upon another to make up a day, so one day builds upon another to make up the future.

This is not an easy thing to master.  If it doesn't work for you, then the fallback advice is that found in my post, "As a Buddhist ... Revisited - Planning without Thinking."
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We Make Our Own Mental Environment

1/14/2017

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A friend of mine once sent me a wonderful quote regarding karma which goes:

“What we do, how we act, the way we speak, has an effect, not only on other people, but on our own minds. So we are creating, moment to moment, our own inner mental environment, this is the environment we inhabit in our lives.

When we understand this, we begin to take more responsibility for our actions, for our speech, for our thoughts, what we choose to give energy to, what we choose to let go of, because we realize that our own happiness depends on this awareness.”

The awareness of this truth is central to making progress on the path and ending one’s suffering.  It is the awareness that it’s not what’s going on around you that causes your suffering; it’s not what’s happening to you or happened in the past.  It is how you react to it.  We create the mental environment that we inhabit, and it is that that causes our suffering.

This is pretty standard Buddhist fare.  But I found the wording of this to be not just very appealing, but I felt it could be helpful to practitioners in getting past the tendency to push back at the concept that our minds create our suffering, as opposed to the events that the mind is reacting to.

To shortcut further pushback, let me clarify.  It’s not that we are responsible for being the way we are.  That is a result of our learned experience over which we had no control.  We have been programmed to be the way we are.  

But once we are exposed to the Buddha dharma and become able to discern the difference between what our ego-mind is telling us and the guidance we receive from our heart, our true Buddha nature, then it does become our responsibility to stop following the guidance that causes our suffering.  Yes, it’s difficult because it’s what we’ve done all our lives;  it’s all that we know.  But we do have a choice and we have to find the faith and discipline to make that choice.  

This is a critical point.  Understanding this and accepting this truth is central to all the teachings that move us forward on the path to end our suffering:  

Whether it’s embracing all aspects of our being and experience.  Whether its testing every guidance we receive and if it is not right for us, if it causes us suffering rather than brings us peace and happiness, then it is our responsibility to reject it.  Whether it’s understanding that our ego-mind is not our true self because it causes us suffering, and thus we respond, “not me!”  Whether it’s knowing that our true self is our heart, which is light, faith, trust, compassion, joy, strength, courage, and wisdom.  Whether it’s having faith that regardless what life throws our way all will be well because we will always return to our true Buddha nature and thus be at peace and happy.

If we do not accept our responsibility for our samsara, and take action accordingly, then there will be no end to our samsara.  Regardless what happens in our lives, what we accomplish, we will continue to suffer.  


The choice is ours.  The choice is yours.  As the monk Huyen Te said to me many, many, years ago, “The choice is yours.  Your can either continue suffering, or you can surrender your ego to your true Buddha nature,” or as I put it, turn your will and your life over to the care of your true Buddha nature.  There is no other way to end your suffering.
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Observe

1/4/2017

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Early on in my Buddhist training, a monk instructed me to observe everything I saw and did.  Observe in the sense of seeing myself and my experiences not from within my mind but from outside, directly.  To become an observer of how I was experiencing things and of the things themselves.

And for some time I practiced this exercise.  I can remember initially driving through the countryside and instead of reacting with labels to everything I saw, trying to see things without labels.  It was not easy.  But it was a good exercise because it made me very aware of how without thinking we apply labels to everything.  In this case, the labels were “good” or “neutral” labels.  These labels didn’t agitate me.  But the point is the same.

But after a few weeks or perhaps months (this was a long time ago), I stopped the exercise.  It was a lot of work.  And I didn’t think about this instruction for many years.  

Then recently, a spiritual book we are reading said that when you are in moments of great stress, when your emotions are tearing you apart, to “ask yourselves who it is that is experiencing this.  And the ‘who’ that is aware of the experiencing, not lost in it, but aware of it, will be the bearer of the Light.”

As soon as I read those words, I recalled the monk’s instruction about observing.  Because the “who” who is aware of what is happening, not lost in it, is the observer.  And I also realized that, without thinking of it in those terms, that is what I have been increasingly doing the past few years as my practice has deepened.

When I say my intent is to observe with my heart, not my ego-mind.  And if my mind asserts itself to say, “no,” and return to my heart.   That is only possible if in fact I am observing myself and thus am aware.

When I test every guidance I receive and if it is not right for me, if it causes me suffering, then I reject it … that again requires the awareness of observing.  Because if I am not observing myself, I don’t have the awareness to test anything.  I am lost in it.

When I am aware that I feel blah, and bring myself home to my heart by chanting or “seeing” the smiling toddler that is the vision of my true Buddha nature, again that is only possible because I am observing myself and thus am aware that I feel blah.

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And so it goes with almost every aspect of my current practice which has enabled me to experience peace and happiness, and even joy, throughout much of the day.  It all stems from the ability to observe myself and thus be aware
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Happy New Year 2017?

1/1/2017

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For many people, I’m sure it seems very strange this year saying, “Happy New Year.”  Given the political situation, and the overwhelming sadness if not anger that many people feel, they don’t see anything good coming of this new year.

But if you follow the teaching and have the intent to embrace all aspects of your being and experience so nothing offends, if you see all things through the eyes of your true Buddha nature, then you will have a path to see the light and have a peaceful and happy new year.

There are several different levels on which to have a happy new year.  First, there is the personal, internal.  This is something you have complete control over.  It’s a question of being aware, saying no to the guidance of your ego-mind or any guidance that disturbs your peace and happiness, and returning to your heart and its light and joy.

Then there’s the immediate external.   If you listen to your heart, you will hear that you have nothing to prove.  Your only purpose in life is to offer others joy.  And every time you offer someone joy, whether it’s just by smiling at someone or speaking kindly to a person, you will feel joy in return, regardless their reaction.  Sometimes you will get a lovely positive response.  Often you will get no response whatsoever; it passes right by them.  And that’s ok because you’re not doing it for the response;  you’re doing it because it expresses your heart.  This is also something you have complete control over.

Then there’s the larger external world.  One way of dealing with the current political situation is to extend yourself and offer joy and help to those less fortunate, to those being attacked.  By reaching out to others, whether through volunteer work or otherwise, you let such people know that they are not alone, that there are people in American society who care about them.  And that in turn brings joy back to you.  That’s again something you have complete control over.


But how to deal with the presence of the new president in the White House? The first thing is to say, “Things are the way they are because it’s just the way it is.”  And that is the truth.  Be aware of the facts, don’t hide, but be in a spiritual space where you don’t react to the facts by getting agitated or upset.  Again, embrace all aspects of your being and experience.  Also, take comfort in the only thing of which one can always be certain … that all things change, that nothing is permanent.  This too shall pass.  Here again, you have complete control because it is all a question of your attitude, your reaction to events.

All of this is putting the serenity prayer into practice:  Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can … which is how I relate to myself and others, the thought I think, the words I speak, the actions I take … and the wisdom to know the difference.

Finally I want to share another thought with you.  I read a teaching a while ago that without darkness we cannot find the light.  I have certainly experienced personally that until I hit rock bottom with my addiction,  a very dark place, I was not able to have the motivation and discipline to climb out of that hole.  I have seen that in others.  It also applies I believe to countries (I’m writing a post on this).

We as a country celebrate a myth about our values, what we stand for.  And yet at no point in our history have we come even close to being true to those values.  Even under the best of leaders, while government policy certainly ameliorated people’s suffering, the basic facts of their life … the discrimination, the poverty, the lack of equal education opportunity … continued regardless because no effort has ever been made to change how our society, how we as a people, deal with each other.  The elephant in the room has never been discussed.

I truly believe that the current political situation offers America a once in a lifetime, perhaps once in history, opportunity to, by experiencing vividly the darker side of our history and attitudes, to say, “enough,” and respond with light, rather than with our own darkness.  To come together as a people and truly for the first time implement, both personally and through government, our founding value that all are created equal and all have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as is so eloquently stated in our Declaration of Independence.

If the situation arises where you can or need to interact with someone of opposing views, speak to them with loving kindness.  Hold no one as evil or bad or stupid.  Every person deserves respect; they are all a product of their life experiences but still have the true Buddha nature inside them, regardless how buried.  

There is no such thing as a bad person, just people who do bad things.  If you deal with people with respect, there is at least a chance that their defenses will drop and they will respond in a like way.  Then a conversation can take place.


But know that this is an iffy proposition.  Many people are so high on their emotions, so full of anger, that they will not respond in kind.  But nothing is lost.  You have acted with equanimity, spiritually.  And the more people encounter others who do not devalue them, who respect them, their anger will lessen and a conversation can take place.
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    All
    1. The Goal Of Buddhism
    2. End Of Suffering Cheat Sheet
    3. 12 Steps On The Buddhist Path
    4. The Choice Is Yours
    5. You Have A Self But It's Not The Ego
    A Buddhist Trinity - Amended
    A Buddhist Trinity - Further Support
    A Buddhist Trinity - The Core Path To Peace And Happiness.
    A Carefree Day And Life
    Acceptance Courage And Wisdom
    Accepting The Life Of Those Around You
    Acknowledgement Of The Cause Of Suffering Is Key
    Allow Nothing To Disturb Your Peace And Happiness
    An Open Letter To President-elect Trump And All Americans
    Antagonist Or Challenge?
    A Path To Compassion And Loving Kindness
    Approaching The Other Shore
    Are You Reading And Willing To Let Your Cravings Go?
    As A Buddhist How Do You Plan - Revisited Again - Relying On Your Buddha Nature
    As A Buddhist How Do You Think About The Future?
    As A Buddhist … Revisited Again - Do We Need To Know Where We’re Headed?
    As A Buddhist ... Revisited - Planning Without Thinking
    As A Buddhist … Revisited Yet Again - How Do You Implement Moving Forward Without Having A Destination Point?
    A Simpler Path To Experiencing Joy
    Attachment To Self
    Avatars - Their Usefulness
    Back To Basics
    Be A Light Unto Yourself And Others
    Be Aware When Reading - Yearn To Please Or To Offer Joy?
    Be Careful The Monk/Teacher You Choose
    Befriend Yourself
    Being Aware Of Abundance
    Being Good To Yourself
    Being - Not Being
    Being One With Your True Buddha Self
    Being Present Is Being Flexible
    Being Present Is The Key To Peace And Contentment
    Being Present - No What If’s Or Imagining The Future
    Being Present - Part 2
    Being Present Requires Faith
    Being There For Someone
    Belief In You Buddha Nature - The Beginning And The End
    Be One With Your Divine Essence
    Be Sustained By The Love Of Buddha Within You
    Be The Eye Of The Hurricane
    Beware Complacency
    Beyond Acceptance
    Beyond Awareness
    Beyond Dispassion - The Next Step
    Boredom
    Boundaries
    Buddha Mind - Child Mind
    Buddha Mind Free Of Thought
    Buddha Nature Gentle And Serene
    Buddhism And The Divine
    Burying Your Old Identity
    Can't Find Your Buddha Nature - Look In The Mirror
    Change Your Life By Changing The Direction Of Its Energy Flow
    Changing The Direction Of Your Energy Flow - II - Manifesting
    Changing Your Reactions
    Chicken Or Egg ?
    Co-existence Of Buddha Nature And Ego-Mind
    Compassion
    Control
    Craving "Survival" Condemns You To Suffering
    Crying - An Understanding
    Darkness Before Light
    Death And Life
    Death And Life - Part 2
    Death Heaven And Hell
    Deflating The Ego
    Dependence
    Desire - The Gerbil Trap
    Desperate For Love And Acknowledgment?
    Discipline - It’s Essential
    Dislike - An Insidious Obstruction
    Dispassion Does Not Mean Wtihout Feeling
    Dispassion - Enter The State Of By Becoming Aware Of The Emptiness Of Our Ego-mind
    Dispassion - Obstacles And Options To Achieve It
    Dispassion - Unlocking The Doors
    Don't Just Say No To Your Mind
    Don’t Waste A Moment
    Don’t Waste A Moment
    Do We Suffer Or Not? - The Choice Is Ours
    Do You Really Want To Be At Peace And Content
    Ego - Changing Your Relationship With It
    Embrace The Moment Not Merely Accept
    Emptiness - What Does It Mean?
    Emptying Myself Of Myself - The Divine's Will Not Mine
    Enter Your Buddha Mind
    Equanimity But Feel Someone’s Pain
    Everything That Disturbs Us Is A Product Of Suffering
    Everything You Need To Be Happy
    Evil - How Should A Buddhist Respond?
    Expectations? - Not If You Want To End Suffering
    Experiencing The Fullness Of The Present
    Facing My Insecurity
    Faith And Mind Not Separate
    Faith And Mind Not Separate - 2
    Faith And Reason
    Faith Even When You Are Dependent On Others
    Faith: The Essential Element Of Spiritual Practice
    Faith: What Is It And Why Is It Essential?
    Fear And Anxiety - There's More
    Fear Anxiety And Craving - Chicken Or Egg #2
    Fear Arises From Our Desire To Control
    Fearlessness
    Fear's Destructive Impact
    Fear V Common Sense
    Fear V Faith
    Feeling Lack - A Most Insidious Perception
    Feeling Off? - Adjust Your Attitude
    Finding Happiness In Each Moment
    Forgiveness - A Different Take
    Freedom From The Future
    Freedom From The Known
    Freedom - What Does It Mean?
    Freeing Yourself From Anger And Resentment
    Freeing Yourself From Attachments
    Freeing Yourself From Fear
    Freeing Yourself From Fear II
    Freeing Yourself From Suffering - The Prerequisite Step
    Free Of Thought - Important Clarification
    Frustration ... Our Canary In The Mine
    Get Over Yourself
    Getting To Know Your True Buddha Self
    Give Yourself A Choice
    Going Through Life With Blinders - The Obstruction Of Labels
    Good Guys Finish Last?
    Go Slow
    Grateful For Being Alive
    Guilt
    Guilt And The Defensive Beast
    Happenstance
    Happenstance - Part II - You Your Buddha Nature And The Universe
    Happiness Is Elusive
    Happiness - What You Need To Be Happy
    Happy New Year 2017?
    Have Directions Not Goals
    Have Faith In The Process
    Have You Heard Of Narcs - The Final Answer To Why I Was Frowning
    Healing Your Inner Child - Healing Your Wounded Heart
    Healing Your Inner Child - Update
    Hell Is Just Resistance To Life
    How I Failed Myself
    How The Ego-Mind Tries To Destroy Faith
    How To Desire Yet Not Crave?
    How To Find Faith?
    How To Find Your True Self Your Heart
    How To Free Yourself From The Control Of Your Ego-Mind
    How To Live In Our World
    How To Love Yourself
    How To Observe Through The Eyes Of Your True Buddha Self
    How To Offer Others Joy
    How To Protect Yourself Against Psychic Attack
    How To Respond To Acts Of Aggression
    How To Spiritually Respond To The Election?
    How To Start The Day
    How To Surrender Your Ego Or Turn Your Will And Your Life Over To The Care Of Your True Buddha Nature
    Humbling Myself
    Humility
    Humility: The Truth About "My" Good Accomplishments
    I Am Being Reborn
    I Am Therefore I Am
    If Nothing Offends All Internal Struggle Ceases
    If This Is Practical Buddhism Why The Pastoral Setting
    "If You Love Someone You Will Suffer"
    Imagining In Meditation
    I’m Grateful To Be A Jubu
    Inner Happiness - Outer Happiness
    Innocence Or Ignorance?
    Insecurity - Nurture Not Nature
    Instead Of Forgiveness Show Compassion
    It Doesn’t Have To Be
    It's All About Survival - Or Is It?
    It's A Sin -The Harm We Inflict On Ourselves
    It’s Just The Way It Is
    It’s Just The Way It Is And It’s All OK
    It’s No Crime To Think About Oneself!
    Joy - A Hopefully Final Take
    Joy - At Last Real Understanding
    Joy - Experience It Now
    Joyful Dispassion - Excited Non-attachment
    Joyful Dispassion - Update
    Joy/Happiness - A Choice We Make
    Joy - One More Take
    Joy - Yet Another Take
    Knowing Best?
    Know Thyself - The Power Of Awareness
    Lack V Abundance
    Let Go - Let God
    Letting Go
    Letting Others Go Their Way
    Liberate Yourself From Thinking
    Likes And Dislikes - A Potential Trap Examined
    Listening - Why Is It So Difficult?
    Love At First Sight - NOT
    Love/Loving-Kindness - Defined In The Buddhist Context
    Love Yourself Unconditionally
    Make It Your Own - An Extension Of “The Heart’s Embrace”
    Making Lists - Objectifying Your Fears The Things That Push Your Buttons
    Making Peace With The Outside; Making Peace With The Inside
    Making The Most Of Every Day
    Manifestation - DANGER DANGER!
    Manifesting
    Manifesting In The Moment
    Meditation - Coming Home Releasing And Being At Peace
    Meditation - The Importance Of Daily Practice
    Memory - Don’t Trust It
    Mental Obstructions
    Mind Resting Undisturbed
    Mirror Mirror On The Wall - A Revelation
    Money And Spirituality
    My Daily Task
    My Daily Task - 2
    My Ego's Sneak Attack
    My Life - A Being Dichotomized
    My Meditation Isn't Working!
    My Mind Trapped Me
    My Road To Peace
    My True Buddha Self And Me
    Nature Of Mind Revealed - A Transformation
    Never Stop Going Deeper
    Newly Discovered Trauma
    Nirvana - It's Right Before Your Eyes
    No Expectations No Hope?
    No One’s Life Is Ordinary
    No Reason To Be Defensive
    No Self - Not!
    No Spiritual Force Can Protect You From Yourself Your Mind
    Not Engaging Your Thoughts
    Nothing To Prove
    Not Me - Peeling Off The Layers Of Our Ego-Mind
    Observe
    Offering Others Joy - From The Heart
    Offer Joy Experience Joy
    Offer Myself Joy!
    Oneness Does Not Mean Sameness
    Opening The Door To Being Present
    Our Over-sexed Culture And Lives
    Pain - A Cry For Help
    Paradise Lost
    Peace And Happiness Is Your Birthright
    Personal Boundaries As Part Of A Buddhist Life
    Preparing A Child For Life
    Pride Is A Function Of The Devil
    Problem - NOT!
    Proof Of The Nature Of Mind - Fear Ego And Buddha Mind
    Prosperity And Abundance
    Protecting Yourself From The Elements
    Psychiatry Needs To Incorporate Buddhist Teaching
    Putting Spirituality Into Practice 24/7
    Que Sera Sera - Whatever Will Be Will Be
    Real Clarity V The Delusion Of Clarity
    Reality Is Not What We Experience
    Receiving The Love Of Your Buddha Nature
    Reciting Affirmations
    Reclaiming The Narrative Of My Life - II
    Reclaiming The “Story” Of Your Life
    Reflecting On 75 Years
    Reincarnation - An Unorthodox Take
    Rejoice And Be Happy
    Rejoice And Be Happy - II
    Releasing All Desire
    Releasing All Desire - II
    Releasing Negative Energy
    Renouncing What You Have Always Depended On
    Replacing Weakness With Strength
    Reprogram Your Mind To End Your Suffering
    Returning Home - Returning To Your True Buddha Nature
    Right Attitude
    Ritual Burning Of The Past
    Safety Defined
    Saying Grace
    Saying “No” To Negative Thought
    Seeing The Light
    Seeing Through The Eyes Of Your True Buddha Self
    Seek And You Shall Find
    Seeking Guidance From Buddha Mind Not Ego Mind
    See Things Through Your Heart Not Your Mind
    See Yourslef And The World Through Different Eyes
    Self Re-examined
    Self-Responsibility During The Pandemic
    Sex - Misused And Abused - A Different Perspective
    Shall We Dance? - An Invitation To The Dance Of Death
    Shame
    Soul’s Yearning Distorted By The Ego-Mind
    Soul -True Self - And Ego-Mind
    Speaking The Truth
    Speaking To Your Buddha Nature/Divinity/Heart
    Speak The Truth But Beware
    Starving The Ego
    Step #10: Continued To Be Mindful Of The Arising Of Cravings And Desires And When They Arose Did Not Attach To Them And Allowed Them To Subside.
    Step #11: Sought Through Meditation To Constantly Improve Our Conscious Contact With Our True Buddha Nature
    Step #1: Admitted Our Cravings Cause Us Suffering And That We Are Powerless Over Them
    Step #2: Came To Believe That Our True Buddha Nature Could Restore Us To Peace And Created A Platform Of Serenity
    Step #3: Committed Ourselves To The Path By Practicing The Five Precepts And The Six Paramitas
    Step #4 Came To Believe That All Our Perceptions Are Learned - That They Are Just A Product Of Our Ego-mind - And That Our Ego-mind Is Not Our True Self - Instead We Knew That Our True Self Is Our Heart.
    Step #5: Were Ready And Willing And Made A Decision To Surrender Our Ego And Turn Our Will And Our Lives Over To The Care Of Our True Buddha Nature Opening Our Heart To Embrace All Aspects Of Our Being.
    Step #6: Came To Believe That We Have Everything We Need Within Ourselves To Be At Peace And Happy
    Step #7: Came To Be Free Of Our Cravings
    Step #8: Were Entirely Ready To Love Ourselves Unconditionally And Have Compassion For Ourselves And To Accept Ourselves And The World Around Us As Being The Way They Are Because It's Just The Way It Is.
    Step #9: Made A List Of Persons We Had Harmed And Made Amends To Them
    Stopping Self-Sabotage
    Strength Not Courage
    Suffering Is Universal - But Why?
    Survival - The Force That Controls Our Life
    Taking Pleasure In Each Passing Moment
    Taking Refuge In Yourself
    Taking Responsibility Is Not Blame
    Teaching Only Points The Way
    Test The Wisdom Of What You’re Doing Or Thinking Of Doing
    The 3-legged Stool Of Spirituality
    The Art Of Self-Nurturing
    The Challenge Of Staying Aware
    The Coexistence Of Ego And Buddha Nature
    The Devil Is Alive And Well
    The Distinction Between Pain And Suffering
    The Divine And Man
    The Ego As Saboteur
    The Emptiness Of Intrinsic Existence And Its Relevance To Global Warming
    The Felt Need For Acknowledgment
    The Five Precepts
    The Four Bodhisattva Vows
    The Fourfold Path To Freedom
    The Four Noble Truths
    The Freedom Of Focusing On Someone Or Something Outside Yourself
    The Heart/Mind Divide
    The Heart’s Embrace - More On Freeing Ourselves
    The Heart's Embrace - Updated
    The Hurt Of Rejection - Its Enduring Impact
    The Illusion Of Control
    The Imperative Of Self-Preservation
    The Lessons Of Siddhartha
    The Light Within You
    The Limits Of Rational Thought
    The Meaning And Power Of Selflessness
    The Middle Way - A Way Back From The Breach
    The Mind And The Wounded Inner Child
    The Mind And Your Inner Child - II
    The Mind Is Sneaky - Surrender It
    The Mind's Deep State
    The Mind - Suffering Connection
    The Miracle That Is You
    The Misleading Teaching Of No Self
    The Missing Noble Truth
    The Myanmar Situation
    The Mystery Of The Ego - An Answer
    The New Me - I Not I
    The Noble Eightfold Path
    The Original Trauma - Birth
    The Parable Of The Raft
    The Path As Tightrope
    The Path From Peace To Joy
    The Path Is Never-Ending
    The Power Of Affirmations - Use Carefully
    The Power Of Giving Voice To Thoughts
    The Present Beyond Us
    The Purpose Of Life
    The Purpose Of Meditation
    The Push/Pull Of Ego-Mind
    The Question Is Not Whether The Glass Is Half Empty Or Half Full
    There Are No Bad Persons
    There Is Nothing Wrong With You
    The Remnants Of The Ego
    The Serenity Prayer
    The Soul’s Yearning And How Best To Fulfill It
    The Stages Of Acceptance
    The Stages Of Man’s Spirit
    The Subconscious
    The Three Stages Of Embrace
    The Truth – Seeing It And Speaking It
    The Unaware Consumer
    The Wisdom Of Chickens
    The Wisdom Of Now
    This Is Not Me This Is Not My Self
    Thought Objects
    To Free Yourself From Cravings You Must Free Yourself Of Fear
    To Love Unconditionally = Loving-Kindness
    Tonglen - How To Approach Its Practice
    To Observe Free Of Mind - To Experience Joy
    To See Opportunity You Must Be Free Of Fear
    To Thine Own Self Be True
    Trauma
    Trauma Begets Trauma
    Trauma Denied No Longer
    Trauma - Healing It Is Critical
    Trauma - It’s Release
    Turning Your Will Over To Your True Buddha Nature
    Waking Up
    Walking Away From Modernity
    Walking On The Beach
    Walking The Path - It’s A Lot Of Work But It’s Well Worth It
    Wealth Poverty And Buddhism
    We Are All One
    We Are Not Meant To Suffer
    We Have Everything We Need To Be At Peace And Happy Inside Ourselves
    We Have Lost Our Sense Of Place
    We Make Our Own Mental Environment
    We Never Stop Healing
    What Activates The Ego-Mind?
    What Are We Celebrating On July 4th?
    What Blocks Me From Being Truly Present And Radiating My Inner Energy 24/7?
    What If The Present Is Bad?
    What Is Joy? What Is Happiness?
    What Is Life Without Emotion?
    What Is Most Important To You?
    What Is Your Task In Life?
    What Lies Behind Our Good Deeds?
    What Nourishes My Soul?
    What Price Peace And Happiness?
    What's In A Name?
    What's Real And What’s Not Real?
    What’s The Real Challenge - Life Or The Ego?
    What To Do When You Lose Faith?
    What Use Fame Power Fortune?
    What You Can’t Will And What You Can
    When A Heart’s Desire Is Commandeered By The Ego
    When Joy Is Not Joy
    When Love Is Not Love ...
    When Nothing Offends
    When Really Bad Things Happen
    When Smiling Toddlers Cry
    When The Mind Intervenes
    Who Am I?
    Who Are You?
    Who/What Is Your True Self?
    Why Diets Fail - A Buddhist Perspective
    Why Do We Crave?
    Why Is Being Grateful Such A Challenge?
    Why Is It So Hard To Be Free Of Your Ego?
    Why Is Mankind Trapped In A Box?
    Why Point The Compass Towards Tomorrow?
    Why We Take Offense
    Wisdom - What Is It?
    Wounded Our Ego-Mind Becomes The Devil
    Yes Virginia There Is A True Buddha Nature
    Yet Another Past Attachment
    You Are Not Alone
    You As Observer
    You Can Be In Control
    You Don't Need To Be Liked
    Your True Self And The Irrelevance Of The Min

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