“So the Three Characteristics in and of themselves are not the content of Buddhist wisdom, Buddhist discernment. They have to be placed in context, the context of the question of skillfulness: “What are you doing? What are your intentions? …”
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Tag Archives: impermanence
The Unshakable Peace of a Mind that Can Let Go
2010/10/22 
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The following in an excerpt from a dhamma talk by Ajahn Chah titled Unshakable Peace. It is a wonderful and deep teaching explaining how to practice the mind that lets go—the mind of liberation and peace. The Buddha did not teach about the mind and its psychological factors so that we’d get attached to the […]
Continue reading Do we really believe in impermanence?
2010/09/14 8 Comments
In my own practice, I’ve really been wrestling with the Buddha’s teaching of anicca—the truth that all conditioned, fabricated, created things are impermanent and constantly change. It’s one thing to accept anicca as a truism—after all, it’s obvious that all things change and are transient. And it’s another to see something of the truth of […]
Continue reading The Three Poisons-How Greed, Ill Will, and Delusion Corrupt our Institutions
2010/06/17 0 Comments
This is a companion post to Transforming the Three Poisons: Greed, Hatred, and Delusion. The Three Poisons are not just an individual problem. They affect every aspect of society and all our institutions. This brilliant article by Zen teacher Dr. David Loy explores how we can skillfully deal with the collective manifestations of greed, ill […]
Continue readingIs the Buddhist Path at Odds with Our Humanity?
2010/02/19 3 Comments
The Roots of Suffering in Biology and Human Nature What could be more natural than to desire pleasure and avoid pain in our life? We all desire what is pleasurable, and we all seek to avoid what is not. That’s just human nature, right? Well, it’s more than just human nature; it’s our biological nature. […]
Continue reading True God, True Buddha
2010/02/02 26 Comments
True God, True Buddha Zen Master Seung Sahn Adapted from a talk during a retreat at Providence Zen Center in December, 1990. Question: I’m a Christian, and I would like to know, is there anything you would like us to understand that we tend not to understand? Zen Master Seung Sahn: Christianity says God made […]
Continue reading Groundhog Day and the serious problem of impermanence
2010/01/31 5 Comments
One of the most basic teachings of the Buddha, so far as I understand it, is that all conditioned things, all contingent things, all fabricated things, all things that arise, and thus all things that pass away, are inherently impermanent, and thus are intrinsically dukkha—suffering and unsatisfactoriness. Further, the Buddha, or Buddhism, teaches that our […]
Continue reading Digging Deeper-All About Change
2009/11/30 1 Comment
Digging Deeper-All About Change What did the Buddha really have to say about anicca—inconstancy and change? Does the fact of impermanence tell us (as some popular teachings claim) that we should just accept change and learn to embrace fully our good and bad experiences without clinging? If “change makes all things possible”, do we then […]
Continue readingMay All Beings Be Happy
- Looking at the Ninth Zen Precept-I Do Not Indulge In Anger
- True God, True Buddha
- The Difference Between Compassion and “Idiot Compassion”
- Ajahn Brahmavamso teaches Loving-kindness Meditation
- Now-and-Zen-Are you still carrying her?
- A Buddhist Mantra based on the Prayer of St. Francis
- Mindfulness of Breathing-The Anapanasati Sutta
- Buddhist Forgiveness-When We Have Hurt Another-Part 3
- Healing the Body with Mindfulness of Breathing
- Practicing the Middle Way-not too much, not too little
- Look at the Three Characteristics in Terms of Actions
- Thich Nhat Hanh – Healing Through Resting in the Breath
- How Metta Can Help You When Meditation is Hindered by Overwhelming Feelings
- The Importance of Taking the “Should” out of Spiritual Practice
- Can We “Choose” to Be Happy? No—and Yes!
- Ken Mcleod on how to use Thich Nhat Hanh’s Five-Step Method of Emotional Releasing
- Non-resistance and the Art of Resisting without Resisting!
- Don’t be fooled! There is a Way and We Can Walk It!
- The Importance of Compassion in Assessing Our Dharma Progress
- Jesus and the Buddha on Good Friday
Metta Refuge 