Tag: Illusion
-
Big Misunderstandings
“All good” is not the absence of darkness —but the confidence to move through it. Because what passes away is never truly lost. There are magicians and there are those who show up to watch the magic act.Here’s the deal: Everyone who sees through the illusion is a magician. So which one are you? Follow…
-
Lenore: Black No. 1—Goth Zen Mind’s Hymn to Awareness
Read time 2 minutes. Lenore: Black No. 1 is a stand alone article in our ongoing Goth Zen series. Type O Negative’s iconic song Black No. 1 idolizes and mocks in the same breath. Steeped in goth culture, lead singer Peter Steele sounds in love.But perhaps, deep down, he knows he can never have her.So he teases and jeers—“She…
-
Unconditional Trust: A Leaping Embrace Into Uncertainty
Read time 6 minutes. Unconditional Trust is a stand alone article in our series regarding paradox. Today we turn again to paradox. Specifically, the paradox of being and becoming, and how this dance reveals the deeper presence of trust. In doing so, we must also recall the earlier lesson of simplicity and complexity—because unconditional trust, like…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Zen Ego: Me Against The World
Read time 5 minutes. Zen Ego is a stand alone article in our Who Am I series. As we touched on in the last lesson, the practice of self-inquiry begins not by asking who am I? but by clarifying who I am not. Any honest attempt will inevitably circle back to our old companion: the Zen ego. By this I mean…
-
Balance and Harmony: The Middle Way of Mindfulness
Read time 3 minutes. Balance and Harmony is a stand alone article in our Everyday Zen series. This practice of looking within, subtle and nuanced as it is, leads to balance and harmony. Over time, it deepens into a recognition of the balance and harmony already present all around us. But to realize transformation, one condition must…