Category: Duality
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Wu Wei: Self-reliance As Radical Liberation
Read time 6 minutes. Wu Wei is a stand alone article in our series regarding paradox. Wu wei is one of Taoism’s most vital and misunderstood concepts. Often translated as non-action or effortless action, it can sound like passivity. But that’s not it. Wu wei is not about avoiding action—it is about action so attuned to Tao that effort disappears.…
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Koan Practice: Self-discovery And The Virtue of The Unknown
Read time 6 minutes. Koan Practice is a stand alone article in our series regarding paradox. We’ve been exploring the role paradox plays in cultivating a stable Zen mindset. Each paradox nudges us out of conventional thinking and into a new way of being. Today, let’s pause and step back. What is paradox, truly, in practice?…
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Impermanence and the Paradox of Being/Becoming
Read time 5 minutes. Impermanence is a stand alone article in our series regarding paradox. In our last lesson, we explored the paradox of everything and nothing, of absence and presence. Today we turn to another paradox: presence itself—not as the presence or absence of a thing, but as it relates to time, to this fleeting…
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Everything and Nothing: The Paradox of Empty, Pure Potentiality
Read time 5 minutes. Everything and Nothing is a stand alone article in our series regarding paradox. Let’s continue to dissect paradox in its many forms. Today: the paradox of everything and nothing. Nothingness holds the potential for everything. Yet if we fixate on that potential, we’re still lost in illusion. The two are aspects of…
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Paradox: Embracing Simplicity To Make Room For Complexity
Read time 5 minutes. This is the first stand alone article in our series regarding paradox. Looking back on the lessons we’ve explored so far, I am once again struck by the power of simplicity. The teachings can be intricate—sometimes overwhelming in their complexity. Yet within simplicity lies a capacity that meets everyone where they…
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Triumph And Disaster Or Uncompromising Truth: One Or The Other
Read time 6 minutes. Triumph and Disaster is a stand alone article in our Blocked Energy series. Right now, some people feel as though the world is ending. Others feel on top of it. Every so often I find the need to have what I playfully call a come to Buddha conversation. This lesson is for those…
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Essential Nature, I Am and the Duality Within
Read time 4 minutes. Essential Nature is a stand alone article in our Who Am I series. In earlier lessons, we explored self-inquiry and the danger of turning Who am I? into a mechanical mantra. Today, let us approach from another angle. Instead of repetition, let us consider the experience of being struck by a poetic line—a phrase that…
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Acceptance and Resignation: It’s Okay vs. I Don’t Care
Read time 2 minutes. Why Real Acceptance Feels Different. This stand alone article is part of our continuing series regarding self-control. Before we get into the next few practical and transformative lessons, we need to take a breath and regroup. If you’ve been following along, you’ve probably noticed something already: the teachings lean heavily on negation—not-doing,…
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The Ineffectiveness of Willpower: Fighting Against Ourselves
Read time 2 minutes. Why the inner tyranny of willpower won’t lead to real transformation. This stand alone article is part of our continuing series on self-control. In our last lesson, we looked at self-control—not as a virtue, but as a clever way of splitting ourselves in two. When we try to force change through…