The Buddhadharma tells us that when we do the about face, we see that the storyteller is also another story. No matter where we look, we never find the, "I," just stories about the I. We find beliefs, opinions, symbols, the senses, habits, cognition and memories. Those are the building blocks we use to [...]
Bosses, co-workers, doctors, therapists, friends and even family members try to rush us forward. They don't want to hear about how we're still grieving, they don't want to remember that everything's impermanent; they don't want to call up their own fears or their latent grief. By John Author "This book will [...]
My biggest flaw is that I'm afraid of making mistakes. I regret not making more mistakes. I regret avoiding the "wrong" choices. By John Pendall I'm terrified of love. It's raised me higher than any philosophy, religious experience or drug. It's pulled me into the deepest pits of despair, where even suicide [...]
But that's the thing about the understanding-respect-attention triad: you can start anywhere. If any of those pieces are practiced openly and diligently, then it naturally strengthens the whole. Where do you want to start? How far are you willing to go? By John Author I've said several times that practice boils [...]
When we accept our anger and are patient with it, it becomes a crisp mindfulness. When we accept desire and approach it with compassion, it becomes clear discernment. When we accept our pride and clinging and show it some equanimity, it becomes wisdom into the equality of things. By John Author Welcome, [...]
Though he was practical, he also lived in a time and place devoid of contemporary Western skepticism. With that in mind, why wouldn't he take these hallucinations at face value? By John Author This article is just a meandering, something to think about. I'm not actually going to go off the deep [...]
What's going on while we sit in silent equipoise or debate Dharma in decked out temple halls? The earth is dying, that's what's happening. By John Author It's everywhere; there's no denying it. I can turn off all my tech, but the minute I go to work---there it is...politics. Now don't run away [...]
I'm a Buddhist who's finding it more and more difficult to write about Buddhism. Honestly, if I kept going with it, I would just start to repeat myself. By John Author Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another installment of John Author's pretentious, winding, anarchistic inner monologue. Daniel Scharpenburg, my Dharma bro, [...]
We can't just block or unfriend the people we work with; we can't put ourselves out there into the workaday world without encountering humbling opposition. Technology is supposed to bring the world together, to allow us to learn from and exchange ideas with people we'd never have encountered in day-to-day life. By [...]
If there were no earth, there would be no moon. If there were no moon, there would be no earth. By John Author Welcome, friends and lovers, to the final entry in the Anatta Series. This article desperately tries to tie the whole room together. Anatta, emptiness, or dependent arising is the [...]