Latest writings

This morning I had the idea of writing about the Four Reliance, inspired by a friend who recently broke with his spiritual group. I have seen this happened often enough that I wondered what went wrong? I guess the Buddha had foreseen the confusion that future practitioners will be facing and therefore taught the Four Reliance in order to help us all stay on the right path. The Four Reliance are: Rely on the…

Who or what ties you down? Only your attachments do. No one else forces you to feel the way you have. Only your habitual thought pattern does. We present ourselves through our habitual thought patterns. The thoughts and actions of all our moments arise from those habitual thought patterns. So, in order to be free you must get rid of your prejudicial, fixed thought patterns. ~ by Zen Master Miao Tsan

If you focus your cultivation on the mind, you can eventually find peace. A peaceful mind will bring forth a better reality. If you have peace, you will know how to make better decisions. You will enjoy better…

Once a Zen master was invited to bless a grandfather's birthday celebration. The Master wrote, "Grandfather dies, father dies; son dies, grandson dies." The grandfather was very upset by this…

A student asked me, "Master, how can I let go of my attachments? If I let go, what will be left?" Consider the moon and the star. They continue to light the sky as you sleep.…