Reading Archive (Meditation)
Liking Is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts.
When I was in college, and for many years after, I liked the natural world. Didn’t love it, but definitely liked it. It can be very...
Contemplation Vs. Social Change
Brother David: You can’t really be a contemplative, unless you also want to change the world. You want to...
The Committee of the Mind
There are many different ideas of “you” in your mind, each with its own agenda. Each of these “you's” is a...
Response Vs. Reaction
When I was 19 and 20, part of what drove my urge to awaken was that we were still in the midst of the Cold War, and it looked as though...
True Meditation Has No Direction
True meditation has no direction or goal. It is pure wordless surrender, pure silent prayer. All methods aiming at achieving a certain...
The Shenpa Syndrome
Someone criticizes you. They criticize your work or your appearance or your child. At moments like that, what is it you feel? It has a...
Is Meditation Boring?
Q: I have been practicing leave the mind and emotions alone, but I often find meditation boring. A: In order for the experience of...
Using Attention in a New Way
One of the things we are trying to do here, is learn to pay attention to seeing what complicates our attention -- where we get caught,...
Beggarly, Friendly, And Kingly Giving
The greatest gift is the act of giving itself. Traditionally, three kinds of giving are spoken of. There is beggarly giving,...
Unencumbered By Thought
There is a process for reaching nirvana and it is this: You must repeat the mantra. And the mantra, which happens to be emblazoned on our...
Not Resisting Resistance
The building where I used to run a meditation group was on the same street as a fire station; one could almost guarantee that sometime...
Meditate Like Christ
One day a Canadian man arrived for his first visit with Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaj-ji). He didn't know much about Maharaj-ji but...
Fearlessness can Coexist with Fear
In meditation and in mindfulness practice, we are learning to replace fear with trust, not as an ideal or abstraction, but as a sense of...
Do You Have Time To Love?
To love is, above all, to be there. But being there is not an easy thing. Some training is necessary, some practice. If you are not...
Do we Use Thought, or Does Thought Use us?
Have you ever looked meditatively into the cause-and-effect of thought, into the birth and death of thought, the cycle that creates fear...
Shifting Your Relationship With Pain
Have you ever noticed that your awareness of pain is not in pain even when you are? I'm sure you have. It is a very common experience,...
Emotions for Liberation
Many years ago, I walked into the kitchen of my guru’s ashram, and found him shouting at the cooks. Force- waves of anger were...
Gaining Mental Power
Uncontrolled thoughts are the roots of all evils. Each thought by itself is extremely weak, because the mind is generally distracted by...
Lessons From 25 Years of Meditating
I did meditate nearly everyday for about 25 years of my life, and some days, for hours on end. [...] Here's what I found. ...
Futility of Search
The disciple looked at the Master. So calm and peaceful while he himself was so agitated, restless and confused. He asked...