Vajra Blue

Mindfulness and Compassion. Understanding trauma in young people.

Tag Archives: zen


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Buddhism and washing up

To celebrate a year of posting here is my first post again.

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Like many people I live far too much inside my head, and have tried to balance this tendency through the practice of mindfulness meditation.

One problem is that I value my ability to think quite highly. After all I am a westerner and a scientist and am given over to rational pursuits.

This has meant that I meet a lot of resistance to just sitting with the breath in meditation. As a result I spend far too much time on my cushions in idle reverie, putting the world to rights, rehashing ancient wrongs or designing the perfect gizmo for something.

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Mindfulness: Flow states and staying calm.

“To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of enlightenment remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly.”
Dogen Zenji 1200-1253

When I was young my grandmother took me to see a Chinese circus perform in Edinburgh.  One of my favourite acts was the mysterious girl in the red cheongsam, emblazoned with dragons, who span plates on long bamboo poles.  I became quite worried as the plates slowed down and looked as though they were about to topple to the ground and smash at any moment.

Only this never happened.

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