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?
Category: Zen
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
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
My Zen Art
A principle I try to uphold on this site is that there is no requirement for belief in a supernatural power. No Magic Necessary. By "supernatural", I mean things not of our “normal” experience readily explained by math and science. For example, answered prayers, Angels, psychic powers, or 5-dimensional beings. I certainly believe in something much bigger than us, … Continue reading My Zen Art
Compound Interest of Enlightenment
Freeing ourselves from dukkha saves us energy, no different than how a well-tuned car engine is more energy efficient. We can use that freed energy to fuel us further through the chaotic Yin and Yang dynamics of our daily lives. We can divert that energy from anger, envy, jealously, etc towards improving our ability to … Continue reading Compound Interest of Enlightenment
Genuine Fearlessness
Last Fall, the Rubber Ducky Buddha of Joliet and I were hiking around Canyonlands. "Is this catcus hiding under this ledge with its weapons deployed fearful?", asked Rubber Ducky. I thought about it for a few minutes. With Rubber Ducky, strange questions never have an obvious answer, so you need to deeply ponder his questions. … Continue reading Genuine Fearlessness
Everything Forms Every Thing
In annoyingly paradoxical Buddhist style I will now talk about how Everything Forms Every Thing, even though I just got through talking about how No Thing Exists. How can there be things that form when no things exist? No Thing Exists is a statement about the true nature of the Universe. Everything Forms Every Thing states … Continue reading Everything Forms Every Thing
Fishnu 