Category: philosophical counseling

• July 6, 2021

  Kant’s Phenomena/Noumena Distinction And Zen’s Reply

  Phenomenon and Noumenon During our philosophical conversation, you suggested that you intuitively got that there is a “disconnection” between what the physical senses can deliver and what True Reality is. You can also come to the same realization, albeit not an intuitive one, via Kant’s argument in The Critique of Pure Reason (1781). Kant’s proposal is the following:…
• June 30, 2021

  A Systematic Inquiry Into Samskaras For Adept Meditators

  Overview In this post, I’d like to discuss a particular approach I’ve developed to identifying samskaras, or ego tendencies. I take my point of departure from Ramana Maharshi who would often tell some disciples, “All thoughts stem from the I-thought. First, hold on to the I-thought. Next, find the source of the I-thought.” This is…
• June 29, 2021

  Positing Promised Lands

  What is one of the greatest hindrances to beginning the existential inquiry into the Unborn, what Buddha called “the noble search”? The Six Hindrances in Buddhism refer to hindrances for one who is already on the path, but what of those who keep overlooking the path, who don’t see the path as a path in…
• June 26, 2021

  Overview Of Core Nondual Teaching: Doctrine, Method, Paths

  I. Core Nondual Teaching 1. There is just one Reality. 2. This Reality is “transcendent” as well as “immanent.”  It is transcendent in the specific sense in which it goes beyond (a) all kinds of finite minds, (b) all kinds of physical bodies, and (c) all kinds of worlds or universes. That is, Reality as…
• June 25, 2021

  ‘Your minds And Mind Do Not Differ’

  Rinzai said, “Your minds and Mind do not differ” (The Record of Linji, p. 18). A student asked, “What about the state where ‘mind and Mind do not differ?” Rinzai replied, “The instant you ask the question they are already separate, and essence [Mind] differs from its manifestations [minds]” (p. 18). Do you see? The…