Cloud & Water Notes | Mentor Garden2

Nov 285 min read

THE NUANCES OF ATTENTION, MINDFULNESS, AND AWARENESS IN MEDITATION PRACTICE

In Zen training and practice--and in Buddhism more broadly--there is a tendency to conflate terms that appear, or that many have been...

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Nov 163 min read

How Long Does It Take to Awaken?

How long? Days? Weeks? Months? Years? Decades? How many moments will pass before you as YOU--the one reading these words right...

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Oct 312 min read

Not Collaborating with Suffering

'Real’ sponsorship, mentorship, friendship, or any interpersonal relationship—truly healthy, non-toxic, and genuine—requires sincere,...

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Oct 162 min read

Perspective as Perspective

見方 (mikata), or “way of seeing,” invites a deep introspection and experiencing into how we perceive REALITY as REALITY, not just as a...

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Oct 72 min read

Zazen's True Nature

In my direct experience, Zazen is not an isolated practice. It's not confined to a set beginning, middle, and end... a beginning and...

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Sep 162 min read

Natural Talent vs. Hard Work in Acquiring a Skill

When it comes to meditation, specifically the practice of Zazen, I had no natural talent or skill for it. In fact, in my 34 years of Zen...

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Sep 112 min read

ROBES OF PERCEPTION

There was an occasion when I was invited to give a teaching at a Buddhist temple, focused on the topic of 'inclusion versus exclusion.'...

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Aug 282 min read

Feeling My Feelings… or Were They Really Mind’s Thoughts? Inquiring Attention Want’s to Know!

There was a time when my attention would lock onto and agree with the thought, “I need to feel my feelings.” As my meditation practice...

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Aug 92 min read

Step 8: Mending, Amending, and Willingness | One Addicts Experience

In my continuous process of uncovering and healing from the toxic relationship with addiction mind... negativity mind, Step 8 invites...

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Aug 62 min read

What I've Learned About Relationships: Auditioning vs. Authenticity

One of the greatest challenges I've noticed in relationships is that many people enter them with an "audition" mentality. They approach...

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Jul 181 min read

Zen Is Not About Training Mind

Using the mind to control or manage mind itself is a commitment to being caught in an endless loop of suffering. It's like attempting to...

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Jul 11 min read

Controlling the Uncontrollable

What happens to us when we try to control the uncontrollable? Suffering is usually the only thing on the menu of experience, at that...

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Jun 272 min read

Patience as an aspect of The Way

Nin (忍)... Patience... can invite and encourage our vision to widen... to relax... to open rather than contract... physically, mentally,...

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Jun 111 min read

Reality as Reality

In the four-fold posture of Zazen, observe and witness thinking as thinking, the imaginary as imaginary, the storyline as storyline....

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May 212 min read

The Pivot of Zazen: Authentic Confession to Endless Reality

Zazen practice doesn't give us anything that we already aren't. It helps us to notice 360° Universal Loving Presence as our True Nature....

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May 201 min read

The Construct of You

The so-called "You" is a concept the mind creates and aims its thoughts at, to gain a reflection of itself. This is despite the fact that...

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May 72 min read

Dropping Our Attention To Thoughts So That We Can Hear Our Authentic Experience

Once, a university professor visited a well-respected Zen Master to learn about Zen. The Master invited him to sit for a cup of tea. The...

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Apr 231 min read

Zazen is Not Being Fooled by the Eyes

A horizon is only a horizon because of how we're looking at things, based on the idea of separation... a beginning, middle, and end. When...

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Apr 144 min read

Changing Our Relationship With Suffering

The essence of Buddhism lies in awakening to our Original Nature, which is inherently free from suffering. Even though pain is an...

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Apr 66 min read

Reflections on Emotional Paralysis and Getting Unstuck

In my personal experience, learned emotional paralysis, a condition rooted in societal malconditioning and unhealthy attachment styles,...

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