In every mind a Saint -- Chan (Zen) Buddhism

By WSChan - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Religion & Spirituality

Monday, August 4, 2008

Apathy is not Non-attachment

Non-attachment is not to ignore our feelings or not to allow us to express emotions. It is like a good doctor's mind in treating or operating on a patient with severe illness. One can be sympathetic and caring, but without being hampered by the possible adverse outcome of the event and instead... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Attachment is Suffering; Non-attachment is Liberation

Whenever we suffer, except those from some pure physiological sources, it can be traceably to some psychological attachment or craving we have on ourselves or the world around us. If we look at the central message from the Buddha's personal speeches on the way to get emancipated from suffering, it... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

"Pray without Ceasing" and Chan (Zen)

Imagination is surely important to help us sail through a largely unknown and mysterious journey of spiritual quest. Analysis and reasoning can make the connections and provide understanding of essentially the maze of religious truth. Some practices of very different religious traditions may in fact... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Is Sex an Intrinsic Obstacle to Enlightenment?

We can be quite awared that Theravada Buddhism speaks of desire, with sex as one of the most intense ones, as the cause of suffering and the removal of it constitutes the path toward liberation and enlightenment. And it is instituted in Buddhism, and also among other religious traditions, the... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

How to Choose Your Meditation Effort Level?

The process of meditation begins with a rather vigorous level of concentration effort until at accomplishment level not any tiny effort is needed to maintain the state of enlightenment. It is like a systematic attentuation of meditation effort, which is necessary to contain the corresponding... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Meditation with Form and Meditation without Form

Meditations usually have forms, or a center of focus, or concentration. No matter you meditate by means of visualizing the Buddha or a Bodhisattva's image, counting the breadth, awareness of the body's feeling from contacting with the surroudings, listening to a certain sound, looking at a corpse,... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Real Life is the Testing Ground for Practice

When it is only a gap in discursive thinking, it is not very useful because the feeling of vexations and the sense of self will return soon after the gap is closed. That is not even accepted as satisfying the criterion of enlightenment, and may even be questionable for the criterion of initial... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

The Four Fruitions of Enlightenment Stages at Buddha's Time

Four stages toward enlightenment, the four fruitions toward getting liberated were mentioned in the Theravada tradition, originated at Buddha's times. The fruitions are accomplishments from practice. The "path enterer" is the first accomplishment, refers to having entered the path of liberation, is... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The Three Prevalent Myths about Experiencing Enlightenment

(1) Quick to accomplish While it is possible that enlightenment experience may appear suddenly, but the time and effort to realize it are generally not unsubstantial. It is true that enlightenment has been recorded as coming out of listening to the sound of a cracking bamboo strip, viewing the... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, June 30, 2008

The Bodhisattva's use of Fame and Fortune

Pursuing worldly fame or fortune is material attachment. Accomplishing for the needs of others is act of the Bodhisattva. What most needs to be done is to be done, that is the spirit of Chan. We are living in a world dominated by commercial enterprises and enterprises apparently run by the principle... Sign in to see full entry.

Headlines (What is this?)