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I continue to notice little changes that I attribute to my meditation practice. Good ones. My current practice revolves around mindfulness, the attempt to just be aware of and notice thoughts as they happen. When you get into semantics, this is usually considered at least a notch or two down from concentration, where you intend to more absolutely control what goes on in your head. Mindfulness doesn’t attempt to do anything other than return the focus of the mind back to what’s going on in the present, right here, right now, and for a chronic overthinker for myself it’s a really liberating process. It’s a little weird – Zen masters like Nishijima and even Brad Warner have written anti-mindfulness rants, so there’s something about the notion that’s anti-Buddhist to some Buddhists. But my favorite guides to mindfulness are from different sects and it would be difficult to describe zazen without introducing some element of mindfulness, so your karma-mileage may vary. In any event, the word “mindful” has become loaded in a Zen context, and I’m just a guy trying some things out to see what works. Continue reading

A friend of ours who has just about completed a house she’s building invited my little family over to be part of the blessing ceremony she had arranged. She’s a Buddhist, I can’t remember if she started with the Zen tradition and moved toward Tibetan or the other way around. Anyway, there are some visiting Tibetan monks in town, and it can be arranged that they come to your home to bless and purify it as well as anyone within it. Continue reading

I’ve always been into “Asian stuff,” studied martial arts, have more Chinese movies on DVD than an average Blockbuster, whatever. I’ve always known about Buddhism – academically – but for whatever reasons these things happen, I’ve started to actually practice over the last months, and it’s been very good for me. It’s not as though I’ve achieved some kind of enlightnment or reached some sort of “state,” but for as subtle as the process is, it seems to be causing big ripples.

Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t get a lot of enjoyment out of the work I do to make a living. (That’s comically understated to take it easy on anyone who doesn’t know me who reads this.) I’ve had what most people describe as midlife crises since I was roughly 16. This time, it’s going a little differently, and it’s partly because of the still-novel practices of mindfulness and meditation. Continue reading

So, more snow over the last couple days. Santa Fe is covered by light, powdery snow and I’m out walking the dogs at 8:30 or so this evening. With the full moon, it’s wild, the lights from the city, due West and maybe 9, 10 miles away, are strange under the low clouds because the ground is reflective and white as far as you can see and the moonlight and city lights bounce up and light the clouds from underneath. When the moon is full here, it’s brighter than a street lamp, it casts strong shadows, and it’s strong enough that your rods and cones get enough data to clearly distinguish colors. It’s more like having Wayfarers on in the sunlight than walking outdoors in dark of night in an area with no streetlights whatsoever. Continue reading