Tag: Stillness

• October 7, 2014

  In Stillness: A 10 minute chant and meditation

  Before leaving for Denmark where I taught a course at Kaos Pilots, Aleksandra and I recorded a 10 minute chant and meditation, which I have included below. One morning before dawn we sat as usual on meditation cushions. Aleksandra held an iPhone up to her mouth and chanted this two stanza poem. An earlier version of the…
• October 26, 2013

  ‘The morning tree wavers, but the mind does not…’

  A poetic chant that came to me before a philosophical conversation earlier today. * 1 The morning tree wavers, but the mind does not. The mind, unwavering, is full of stillness. 2 When one thing comes to it, the mind takes the thing in hand. That and that thing only. When another thing comes to…
• September 2, 2013

  Holding presence of mind amid the turning world

  I meditate. Be quiet. You fill. Silent. Hold. Be still. You squiggle. Softly. Squirm. Softly. Still and softly. Be clear. You muddy, jumble, convolve. Be clear, clear, clear. Be empty. I sway and bend meltingly. Meditate. Be silent. [Pause] Be still. [Pause] Be clear. [Pause] Empty. [Pause] Whisper this again. Breathe: the world is thick, now, dense, now, deeper…
• July 2, 2013

  The quietness of the intelligent man

  Kenko does well to stress the intelligent man’s quietness in company. Nobody likes a know-it-all. Some men, out of pride or vanity or ennui, profess to be experts in some esoteric subject while not a few others add to the dullness of the evening by having an opinion about everything passed around the table. They…