Every now and then you meet somebody extraordinary. I met him in a park in Paris. I was in Paris for a week of zen training at l’Association Dana, the official name of the zen center of my teacher Genno roshi (which is actually just her house that she makes available for students and practice). After the sesshin of last week had finished, I had some time for myself to walk around the city. We met each other in Buttes Chaumont. After coming home in Amsterdam yesterday I decided to write about the fascinating story of my fellow follower of the Way M.
Enlightened faces #2 Ramana Maharshi
Blurbs from my heart #3
Even though we experience our own view as the right view it is good to realize that it is certainly not the only right view.
6 things you always wanted to know about spiritual awakening
This blog has been online now for about a week and I received from different people similar questions The questions were something along the lines of: “What is life like after an experience of transformation?”. I can tell you how it was for me. After the introduction I will try to answer a couple of those questions.
The spiritual language doesn’t really make sense until you have had some sort of mystical experience yourself. And before I had mine I felt huge resistance against people who spoke about “becoming whole”, “coming home”, “dropping the self” or “a deep letting go”. But after the experience I realized that these terms actually make a lot of sense…
Before you die, please live a little
“Before you die, please live a little”. It is a quote from Hojo-san, the younger brother of my Dharma grandfather Maezumi Roshi and also a zen master. It is very good advice. Sometimes we forget that our existence has created for us the opportunity to celebrate life. Yes, celebrate it! This is your chance, this is your moment! You are here on this planet, you are breathing, it’s an amazing miracle to be alive. And because a YouTube video says more than a thousand words:
Blurbs from my heart #2
You are a lot less limited than you think you are.
Why not leaping into the blogosphere naked?
When I write this post this blog is not online yet. I feel that I’m postponing, hesitating to take the leap. Why am I afraid? It’s the fear of being naked in front an invisible audience, an audience composed of strangers and/ or people that know me very well. But also the fear of being naked in front of no audience at all. How embarrassing to scrape your courage together, take off all your clothes, walk on stage and reveal yourself.. to find out nobody came to watch.
Blurbs from my heart #1
Sometimes the Universe pats us on the shoulder unexpectedly. To remind us that life is good.
Enlightened Faces #1 Suzuki Roshi
Masquerade
This is a beautiful video. It speaks for itself, really. Made by an art student as his graduation project. I find it a very reassuring feeling that a young guy uses his skills to attempt to deliver such a profound message. Click and watch and let me know what’s your feeling.