Walking with a Compass and a Map

Out in the woods, even if you have no particular goal in mind, you still might use a compass and a map to avoid walking in circles. To be straightforward with suffering, a relationship between where I am and what I feel with the movement of breath is useful.

I find a description of such a relationship in the teaching of Gautama, although the notion ...  read more

Self as a Function of the Senses

Today I found an interesting article by Olaf Blanke and Christine Mohr about OBE (out-of-body), heautoscopic (seeing one’s own body at a distance), and autoscopic (sees one’s own body as though from outside of one’s body) phenomena. Here are some excerpts:

The self is experienced as distinct from other ...  read more

“Non-Thinking” (comment on Nyoho Zen)

My article “Letting Go in Action”, which I recommended to Koun above, I think resolves the language paradox.

I’ll summarize: 1) the practice in the Pali Canon Suttas concerns the relinquishment of volitive activity; 2) the singularity of mind mentioned in the induction of the states of meditation or the state of concentration (which ...  read more