Month: December 2020

• December 16, 2020

  A Love Song For My Wife

  “All objects celebrate the sun,” Rupert Spira writes. Likewise, “All experience celebrates our self, aware Presence.” Where does light come from? From love. What are you? The love that emanates forth in light.  Just as words are, in Chan master Sheng Yen’s words, symbols that point to “the wellspring,” so light is an emanation of…
• December 15, 2020

  In My Dreams, I See My Eldest Sister, Who Died 6 Years Ago, Again

  In my dreams, I see my eldest sister, who died six years ago, again: My wife and I are visiting my brother-in-law who, as it happens, is not at home. We have so little time; soon we must leave. Already dead, my sister left behind a secret: far out back behind the house she had…
• December 14, 2020

  Everyone Has Great Faith–But Is It In The Right Thing?

  You have to trust something. No doubt about it. If you do doubt this statement (“You have to trust something”), then you’re trusting your capacity for skepticism in general, your actual doubt in this case in particular. Whatever you say, in fact, proves the point directly or indirectly. The only question, therefore, is: what are…
• December 12, 2020

  The Huatou

  With ease and great clarity, Chan master Sheng Yen expounds upon huatou practice in Shattering the Great Doubt: The Chan Practice of Huatou. Essentially, the practice involves simply asking, “What is wu?,” over and over again with immense yet quiet focus and with a desire to know. As with the koan, so with the huatou:…
• December 11, 2020

  Procrastination Is Contrary To The Tao

  Yesterday I asked, “The Tao, however, is easy. How come you keep making it hard? How come?” Take procrastination. What does it say but “I have to or should do it, but I don’t want to do it now (or at all)?” Take wu wei as your baseline. Wu wei can mean any of these…