Tag: Taoism
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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…
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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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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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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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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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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…
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Acceptance Without Compromise: Empowered, Confident Strength
Read time 5 minutes. Acceptance Without Compromise is a stand alone article in our series regarding Acceptance. We’ve spent a lot of time exploring acceptance, and it’s worth pausing to clear up one final misconception. Too often, people assume that radical acceptance turns us into pushovers. That if we accept what is, we are destined to…
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Roses and Thorns: “Me,” The Great Troublemaker
Read time 3 minutes. A new perspective we can take when walking amidst the garden, roses and thorns. At first glance, this lesson may sound like it is about optimism over pessimism. There is some of that here, but let us take it a step deeper. When we walk into a garden, our attention naturally…
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Authentic Experience: Radical Acceptance and Absolute Freedom
Read time 4 minutes. Authentic Experience is a stand alone article in our series regarding Acceptance Today we return to the theme of radical acceptance. In doing so, several related ideas emerge: experience, purpose, freedom, and identity. A Zen mindset frames these differently than we are used to. Instead of “personal experience,” Zen speaks of authentic experience.…