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Blocked Energy: The Birth of Unfinished Business
Read time 4 minutes. This is a stand alone article in our Blocked Energy series. The teachings speak often about the benefits of remaining open to whatever life throws our way. We hear it said: let go, don’t cling. But the deeper message is not to become some idealized open person. The invitation is to practice in…
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Become a Verb: Practice of Self-inquiry in Review
Read time 5 minutes. Become a Verb is a stand alone article in our Who Am I series. Our exploration into the practice of self-inquiry has stretched across ten lessons—sometimes direct, sometimes meandering, always circling back to the same essential question: Who am I? The aim has not been to collect more theories but to transform intellectual understanding…
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The Illusion of I and the Burden of Concepts and Ideas
Read time 5 minutes. The attached video opens with a quote from One Dharma by Joseph Goldstein: “Thoughts themselves are the thinker.” The Illusion of I is a stand alone article in our Who Am I series. At first glance, this statement is almost disarming in its simplicity. But if we sit with it, the implications unravel the very core…
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Empty Awareness: Presence Dwarfs the Identity Center
Read time 6 minutes. Empty Awareness is a stand alone article in our Who Am I series. Our last lesson on self-inquiry ended with a warning. The question Who am I? is powerful, but it is not meant to become a lifeless mantra, repeated without presence. Nor is it meant to be dissected endlessly until we obsess and overthink.…
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Perfect Composure: An All-embracing Remedy
Read time 3 minutes. See how presence and perfect composure dissolve ego’s clouds, offering both daily relief and lasting transformation Some of us arrive at practice with a burning hunger for enlightenment. Others simply want to find a way through the difficulties of the day. Both positions are valid. Both are human. From the stance…
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Ultimate Reality: Truth That Transcends Linguistic Expression
Read time 5 minutes. Ultimate Reality is a stand alone article in our Who Am I series. At the heart of self-inquiry lies the question Who am I?—a question that immediately collides with the mother of all dualities: the false self of the ego and the true self of Tao. Yet here we run into a paradox. Our…
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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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Fearless Mind and the Advantage of Uncertainty
Read time 4 minutes. Fearless Mind is a stand alone article in our Who Am I series. Early in his book China Root, David Hinton suggests that Zen, “…demands a wild and fearless mind.” Just hearing these words is enough to stir something within us—an invitation to step beyond control and embrace the unknown. Cultivating a wild and fearless mind…
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Self-Inquiry: The Direct Simplicity of “Who Am I?”
Read time 4 minutes. Self-Inquiry is a stand alone article in our Who Am I series. In earlier lessons, I introduced the practice of self-inquiry and its central question: Who am I? Over the next few writings, we will explore the nuances of this approach, why it is so effective, and how it can be applied in practice.…