A Fistful of Sand

Artist — Lim Chung Hee When we sit in meditation, thoughts arise. That’s not a problem—it’s natural. Thoughts, feelings, and sensations are the raw material of our practice. They are not interruptions; they are the very field in which mindfulness and insight develop. Often, a practitioner has a session that feels clear, balanced, even luminous. There may be a sense of accomplishment, ease, or emotional release. Then, perhaps the very next day, the mind shifts. A wave of negative emotions appears—anger, jealousy, anxiety, irritation, or despair. The contrast can be jarring:  “Yesterday I was calm. Today I feel poisoned.” And then comes the fork in the path. The Habitual Move: Projection For many, the default response is projection. Instead of meeting these inner states directly, we unconsciously look outward for a cause. The discomfort is disowned and relocated onto someone or something else:  “It’s because of her.” “He made me feel this way.” “They are the problem.” This is no...

Pure Land Buddhism is often misunderstood as a devotional practice focused on faith and rebirth in a celestial paradise. However, at its deepest levels, Pure Land is one of the most advanced expressions of Buddhist thought, aligning with non-duality, Buddha-nature, and the direct realization of awakening. This article explores how Pure Land Buddhism transcends conventional religious paradigms, why it is an advanced tradition, and how Hongaku Mikkyō Jōdo represents an even further refinement of its teachings. The Depth of Pure Land Buddhism Pure Land Buddhism originates in the Mahayana tradition, where the concept of Other-Power ( tariki ) plays a central role. Unlike self-powered approaches ( jiriki ), which emphasize rigorous meditative discipline, Pure Land shifts the emphasis to complete reliance on Amida Buddha’s vow. This is often mistaken for passivity, but in reality, it embodies a profound realization of the inseparability of self and other, effort and grace, practice and enlig...

  One of the most pervasive misconceptions in spiritual practice is the belief that enlightenment or liberation is about becoming a perfected version of oneself. This belief, deeply ingrained in human psychology, is at odds with the core Buddhist insight that the self is an illusion. Even within advanced traditions such as Pure Land Buddhism and Vajrayāna, there is a tendency to interpret spiritual attainment as the evolution of an individual into a higher or more enlightened being. This article explores how this misconception arises and how it can be resolved through a deeper understanding of non-duality. The Ego as an Illusion From a Buddhist perspective, the ego is not an enduring entity but a construct, a fabrication — a temporary aggregation of thoughts, emotions, memories, and conditioned patterns. However, because it feels real, we instinctively try to preserve and enhance it. This manifests even in spiritual practice, where instead of deconstructing the self, many practitio...

by   Sensei Mui When speaking of emptiness there seems to be a distorted sense of what that term means. It often comes across as some incredibly deep metaphysical reality separate from the day-to-day humdrum of modern ‘civilized’ being. It’s an easy belief to develop. It’s all empty and I am the co-creator of reality. It is easy to fall into the belief but having the belief does little good for us. It’s just a belief. There is no one, vast emptiness ‘out there’ somewhere. Emptiness is one, vastness you create by letting go. Emptiness is a way of approaching perception, a way of looking at experience. In this approach nothing is added to and nothing is taken away from the raw data of physical and mental events. We simply look at events in and of themselves as they appear in the mind and the senses without evaluation or assessment of whether there’s anything lying behind them. This approach is called emptiness because it’s empty of the conjectures and beliefs we usually a...

“What more does the community of bhikkhus expect from me, Ananda? I have set forth the Dhamma without making any distinction of esoteric and exoteric doctrine; there is nothing, Ananda, with regard to the teachings that the Tathagata holds to the last with the closed fist of a teacher who keeps some things back.” —Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, Digha Nikāya 16                     A Note : Pāli is the language most likely used by the historical Buddha so, the                          author has opted to use Pāli terms in this article. The term  vipallāsa  sounds innocent enough. It sounds like you can walk into any ethnic restaurant and buy an entrée of vipallāsa and have a nice glass of red wine to wash it down with.  Yet to partake in vipallāsa is a very dangerous thing and bring years of pain and suffering into one’s life.  You see, a vipallāsa is ...

Going To All the Wrong Places I am not complaining, I merely state an observation: most people are knowledgeably ignorant. The pseudo-spiritual say that in order to understand reality “you have to go inside” but they never tell you inside of what. I’m already inside my office so where else is there to go? Well, maybe to the bathroom after I finish this cup of coffee.   Shades of the pop culture "New Age Gurus”, who teach people to keep telling us to go inside ourselves. Students and well meaning “spiritual people [whatever the hell that means], shout “Go inside yourself and you will find all your answers”. You can hear them militantly shouting from the highest rooftops [in Chicago that would be Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower].   If you don’t understand what is inside and what is outside then you go to all the wrong places.   What or where is “inside” exactly? Is it your body? Your body accumulated over years of time. What is accumulated can b...

Asevana ca balanam panditanañca sevana,  "Don't associate with fools. Associate only with wise people." "Fools" are people whose minds and actions are unskillful and "evil". They are unskillful in their actions - killing, stealing, having careless sex - and unskillful in their words: telling lies, creating disharmony, deceiving other people, engage in gossip. They are unskillful in their thoughts - judging others, conceptualizing, lost in drunken fantasy. Fools are the enemy of society because unskillful behavior makes us the enemy of society. Gossiping, for example, makes us the enemy of those we tell tales about, enemies of the persons we share our filth with, enemies of ourselves as we spew our half truths and lies. That's one example of a fool. Serving one's self over serving others is yet another. Being willing to harm others is one of the prevalent   examples of foolishness in the world today. The foolishness of feeling mo...

Life, personhood, pleasure and pain —     This is all that's bound together   In a single mental event —     A moment that quickly takes place. Even the spirits who endure For eighty-four thousand eons   —     Even these do not live the same For any two moments of mind.   What ceases for one who is dead, Or for one who's still standing here, Are all just the same aggregates   —     Gone, never to connect again.   The states which are vanishing now, And those which will vanish some day, Have characteristics no different Than those which have vanished before.   With no production there's no birth; With becoming present, one lives. When grasped with the highest meaning, The world is dead when the mind stops.   There's no hoarding what has vanished, No piling up for the future; Those who have been born are standing Like a seed upon a needle. ...