The Zen Koan
A koan is a ridiculous expression or dialogue designed to get the listener past the subject-object perspective.
Zen
Zen in Brief
When Mahayana Buddhism traveled east out of India and into China, it mingled with Taoism. The offspring: Zen.
Like all Buddhism, its ontology (i.e., its theory of what constitutes fundamental reality) is steeped in pantheistic monism. This means that the Buddhist believes all things are one. The same spirit
Three Lesser-Known Figures in the Zen Tradition
All three emphasized the Tao side of Zen
On Working without Working. Or St. Terese's Little Way. Or Zen Work.
"There is no greater pleasure in ordinary life, so-called, than to see a bus-conductor, a teacher, anybody, really engrossed in his work, with no thought of its relative or absolute value, with no thought of its interest or profit to himself or others." R.H. Blyth, Zen in
If You Meet the Buddha, Kill Him
J.D. Salinger hit the jackpot in 1951. At age 32, he published The Catcher in the Rye, a novel about an alienated teenager named “Holden Caulfield,” and it became an immediate bestseller. He was a success.
But the novel met with considerable resistance from parents who thought it was
Are You Engaged in the Act of Existence? Then You’re a Man of the Tao
Introducing "The Reality Spectrum"
The Pseudo-Dionysius and the Tao
The Satoshi Nakamoto of Mysticism. This dude first articulated the western mystical tradition. Like the inventor of Bitcoin, we don’t even know who he was. But he pointed to the Tao.
How to Live Like a Zen Master
Lessons from spiritual adepts from various traditions tell us the same thing: Cultivate the eyes of a child
St. John of the Cross Feast Day
He arguably wrote the most Zen-like passage in the Christian tradition
To reach satisfaction in all
desire its possession in nothing.
To come to possess all
desire the possession of nothing.
To come to the knowledge of all
desire the knowledge of nothing.
To come to the pleasure you have