#209 When, where and how do you have fun….arnaud?

                                       When, where and how do you have “fun” Arnaud?

D, a very good friend of mine leaving in San Francisco told me the following over the phone:

“Practicing Zen Buddhism for many years at the San Francisco Zen center and reading your blogs, I found that Zen philosophy and its Zen Masters teachers are somewhat dull, pessimistic, depressed and even boring. hey seem to live without expecting anything”

“ Why that”? I replied.

D: “ All Zen literature talks about controlling our ego, controlling our emotions, desires, pleasure, expectation; not having nostalgia of the past, controlling our dreams about the future…. This is pretty grim, bleak and gloomy. In other words no fun, don’t you think”

“This is your view Denise, not mine”, I replied”.

(more…)

#208 :”Are you blind”! About our emotional outbursts

                                             Are you blind? About our emotional outbursts

 Few months ago, I was walking downtown Oakville, with my arms full of stuff when someone roughly bumps into me so hard that my groceries went all over the ground.

As I picked up the puddle of broken eggs and tomato juice, I was ready to shout out: “You idiot, what’s wrong with you, are you blind !” Mad I was, like an aggressive wild beast.

 But just before I can catch my breath to express verbally my anger, I saw a white cane on the floor and realize suddenly that the person who bumped into me was indeed blind.

(more…)

#207 Zen serenity as taught by a little dog Jan. 6th 18

                                                  Zen serenity as taught by a little dog    

Our 10-year-old wonderful Shih Tzu named Zap is a perfect example of calmness & serenity except when he is asking to go out for a pee or when time for food is around the corner which is quite normal .

He is showing so much serenity that I asked him his secret. Since Zap does not use human language, I learned to read his non-verbal skills such his eyes. Here are his answers.

My brain and mind is only 7% of yours, which is a gift because more thinking induces more suffering.

I will explain that later. Here are the main reasons why I am more serene than you or Cathie or anyone coming for meditation in our home.

(more…)

#206 Mind-made 6 poisons Jan 1st 18

                                                                   Mind-Made 6 poisons

 

The main roadblock against inner peace and serenity is our ego-driven mind

 Our “I, ME, MYSELF and MINE” are critical for identification, survival, protection, enhancement, pleasure, procreation and many more other functions. This is wonderful but…..

Zen Buddhism considers our little self that is “I” is also the main cause of our unhappiness, dissatisfaction and suffering. These negative feelings and uneasiness are triggered by so called 3 main “poisons” in Zen Buddhist:

1) Desire/ craving/expectations or what we want 2) Dislike/Hatred/aversion or what we don’t want

3) Ignorance, better called illusions. They are affecting us more subconsciously than consciously. (more…)