Month: October 2023

• October 23, 2023

  Where Is Abiding Happiness To Be Found

  1. If you feel in your very bones that dukkha is profound, pervasive, and central, then you’ll naturally long for liberation. 2. You won’t settle for “contingent happiness” (in the words of Shinzen Young) because contingent happiness will subside and then contingent misery will arise. And this is just more samsara. 3. To long for liberation…
• October 21, 2023

  Why Cognitive Therapy Can’t, Ultimately, Work: A Brief Note On Cleaning Up

  An illustration: suppose you’re driving your car, and suppose a fear of being in an accident arises. Let’s say that you use some form of cognitive, or reason-based, therapy to talk this through. You might note that accidents, in some grand sense, rarely occur. You might note that you’re a meditator who is keenly observant;…
• October 20, 2023

  Cleaning Up: Architectonic

  Overview My understanding of Cleaning Up (to use a neutral term here) is encapsulated by the following: Cues You can use any number of “cues” or “error messages” to initiate the process of Cleaning Up. These include: Even more generally, the basic 3 categories: Fear, For Example Starting to notice that fear preponderates is a…
• October 19, 2023

  Regarding Dukkha As Error Messages

  Dear So-and-so, Dukkha Is Almost Universal Begin by reading my post on the near-ubiquity of dukkha. It’s especially important that you “click with” the First Noble Truth. Like: “Oh, this isn’t just fear. And that over there isn’t just anger. They’re all instantiations of dukkha! Whoa, the Buddha was right!” Once this really clicks into place, then there…
• October 16, 2023

  The Boundless Sky: Problems, Rinzai, Soto, And Sahaja

  Problems Problems are like thick clouds that appear to occlude our vision of the boundless sky. And yet, the thick clouds aren’t real. When problems arise in sadhana, find out on whose behalf they arise. Is there a problem after all? For whom does there seem to be one? Just carry on until it’s clear…