Written By Christina Sarich Thich Naht Hanh, the Zen Buddhist master, has some interesting advice about what it means to truly let go. Many people mistake detachment or non-clinging to be a form of aloofness, or emotional disconnect from others, but as Hanh explains, truly letting go often means loving someone more than you have…
Category: Spirituality
Myths and Truth
Once you learn these 5 brutal truths about life, you’ll be a much better person (according to Buddhism)
According to Buddhist philosophy, happiness involves embracing and accepting all the different aspects of life, even if they’re negative. Otherwise we’re turning a blind eye to reality and resisting the natural forces of the universe. So below, we’re going to go over 5 truths about life Buddhism says we’d all benefit from accepting. 1) Worrying…
25 Powerful Quotes From Alan Watts That Will Awaken Your Soul
Writer, speaker, and British philosopher Alan Watts is best known for his interpretation popularization of Asian culture and philosophy for the West. With more than 25 books, multitudes of articles on higher consciousness, identity, the nature of reality, the meaning of life, and the pursuit of happiness, he left an impressive body of work…
Embracing the Way of Nature: Polarity and the Tao
Taoism offers a unique way of viewing the world. Though it is often taught as the “Way of Nature,” Tao, translated means simply, “the Way.” As its greatest teacher, Lao-Tzu explained, nature contains polarities. Tao creates and nourishes everything in the Cosmos, and yet It appears to “do nothing” (wu wei in Chinese), which means that…
The Wisdom of a Silent Mind
Silent Mind When your sense perception contacts sense objects and you experience physical pleasure, enjoy that feeling as much as you can. But if the experience of your sense perception’s contact with the sense world ties you, if the more you look at the sense world the more difficult it becomes, instead of getting anxious—“I can’t control this”—it’s better…
These 7 Buddhist monk habits are hard to adopt but they’ll change your life forever
What’s the secret to feeling calm and focused? It’s not an easy question to answer. So, why do Buddhist monks appear peaceful and present all the time? How do they do it? Do they know some hidden secret that you don’t? Actually, yes they do! For thousands of years, Buddhist philosophy has focused solely on…
The 6 Major Differences Between Religion And Spirituality
Spirituality vs Religion Have you ever told someone you’re spiritual, but not religious? They tend to get a confused look on their face. But there’s nothing wrong with spirituality; in fact, spirituality is perhaps the most natural thing there is. It’s simply recognizing that you are more than just a body, that you are a soul…
Reflections on Calm Abiding in Meditation
My mind has long been lost in search of happiness Without knowing how transient all things are. Seeing the unsatisfactoriness of real life experiences I will not let my mind wander outside. Turning back the forces of harmful habitual inclinations And holding firmly to the peace and tranquillity within, I rejoice in the store of…
10 Ways to Become More Conscious
What does it mean to become more conscious? It is the progressive realization of conscious mastery over your mind. The challenge is that it takes consciousness to grow consciousness. But you needn’t worry about this because you already have the seed. Think of it like fire. You have a flame, and you want to turn that flame into…
What is Awakening? Sorting Through the Confusion
By Morag O’Brie When you Google ‘awakening’ you are quickly taken down the rabbit hole of signs and symptoms, spiritual ideology and karmic teachings. Topics covering everything from the bible to quantum mechanics come up. What does awakening really mean? The word ‘awakening’ is contentious. To some, it represents a language of separation perceived in spiritualism. Awake infers asleep….
3 Priceless Zen Teachings on Fear
3 Priceless Zen Teachings on Fear If the ego had an engine, its fuel would be fear. Trepidation isn’t all bad, but it certainly has its time and place. Fear can render us quivering and useless, or motivate us toward change. In the study of Zen, we learn how to not only overcome our fears,…
How To Stop Absorbing Other People’s Negative Energy
The question is: How to stop absorbing negative energy from other people? Empathy is the ability to recognize and feel other peoples emotions. Sympathy is feeling compassion for other people. Often times to be an “empath” means that you are absorbing much of the pain and suffering in your environment, which can sacrifice your ability…
7 Ways To Stop Leaking & Losing Your Spiritual Energy
Leaking Spiritual Energy In the yoga tradition we encounter a fascinating metaphor: it is said that the milk of a lioness is so potent that no container can hold it except for pure gold. If the golden vessel has impurities, the milk will eat through the vessel like acid at those points, and drain away….
Why Repeating A Mantra Is So Powerful And How To Do It
I have been teaching meditation for over ten years and practising and studying the various systems for more than fifteen years I understand the mechanism of various meditations, but I must admit when I was going through anger and depression issues the one meditation that saved me was meditating using a Mantra. It holds a special…