We Don't Pay You to Think I originally wanted to title this blog, "We Don't Pay You to Think", a phrase I often hear on movies and TV shows. It usually goes something like this: A private approaching his sergeant: "Sergeant, I think ..." Sergeant immediately interrupts: "WE DON"T PAY YOU THINK, PRIVATE!" The … Continue reading The Dukkha of Original Thinking
Category: Buddhist Basics
What is Dukkha?
The Rubber Ducky Buddha of Joliet thinks I need to dig deeper into Dukkha itself. The Prism of Suffering In the Western world, Dukkha is typically translated as "suffering". That typical translation is drawn from Siddhartha Gautama's succinct and seminal realization under the Bodhi Tree that "clinging is the cause of all suffering". To me, … Continue reading What is Dukkha?
The Root of Dukkha – Part 4 – Wrath and Sloth
Analogous to how Lust, Greed, and Gluttony arise from Envy, the last two of the Seven Deadly Sins, Wrath and Sloth arises from Pride. From the perspective of the quasi evolutionary psychology point of view of this blog series, Wrath and Sloth emerges in our Earthly lives from our fight or flight mechanism, respectively. That is, the … Continue reading The Root of Dukkha – Part 4 – Wrath and Sloth
The Other Shore
The Heart of the Matter Early this morning I was recalling Thict Nhat Hanh's English interpretation of the Heart Sutra and its place in my Bodhi Day ceremony last year. In particular, the phrase "... while practicing deeply with the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore ...", strikes a profound chord within me. I envision … Continue reading The Other Shore
Corporate Dukkha
This post is dedicated to the laborers on this Labor Day! Situation Think about the life of your liver, a part of you. And let's say you're an alcoholic. Your dukkha lead you to alcoholism, which soothes your mind's dukkha passing it along in the form of a tougher life for your liver. Try as … Continue reading Corporate Dukkha
The Root of Dukkha – Part 3 – Lust, Gluttony, Greed
Situation Addiction goes way beyond the vices we normally think of such as gambling and drugs. If vices were the only addictions, why are there so many miserable people who aren't drug or gambling addicts? That's because anything we desire is an addiction - whether under the societal norms in which you happen to live … Continue reading The Root of Dukkha – Part 3 – Lust, Gluttony, Greed
The Root of Dukkha – Part 2 – Pride
Enlightenment Vaporized Out of My Head The biggest hindrance to being enlightened isn't obtaining enlightenment itself. As it's said with making money, the hard part is keeping it. As soon as you leave your chosen enlightenment seminar or retreat back to the "real world", any spark of enlightenment is vaporized out of you by unavoidable … Continue reading The Root of Dukkha – Part 2 – Pride
The Root of Dukkha – Part 1 – Envy
Why do we suffer? Why do we cling to horrible things from our past that should just be left behind like garbage or futures we only imagine? Conversely, we cling to things we hold dear that are pulling away from us or obsessively pursue dreams we are warned to be careful about wishing for because … Continue reading The Root of Dukkha – Part 1 – Envy
No Thing Exists
In yesterday's post, See, I discussed the phrases "Nothing exists" versus "No thing exists". Let's recap that discussion from another point of view because this is a fundamental Buddhist/Zen topic. Think of having heard a Buddhist priest saying, "Everything is an illusion. Nothing exists." Does the priest mean there are no stars, no Earth, no chair I'm sitting in … Continue reading No Thing Exists
See
One of the most frustrating words used in modern Buddhist literature is "see". For example, "If you see the reality of the Universe, you will know that nothing exists and that all is One." That is an important statement because it just about defines enlightenment, even though it sounds like esoteric garbage. So how does … Continue reading See
Fishnu 