Being Peace

I'm currently re-reading "Being Peace", by the Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh. It's a small book that was assigned reading in the last philosophy class that I took in college (several years ago now).

Although I didn't get interested in Buddhism or meditation at the time, I do remember being impressed with the author's discussion of how we can learn to be calm, mindful, and happy in situations where we usually aren't (like driving in rush hour traffic).

Intro from Gene

Hi all. I've been meditating for a couple of years now. Lately my challenge is to get enough sleep so that I can get up early enough to meditate for a half hour.

I was first introduced to Buddhist meditation through the book "The Wisdom of Yoga". It's a great "yoga book" that doesn't have one picture of a yoga pose, but instead describes the psychological framework of Buddhism, the historical Indian relationships between Hinduism, yoga, and Buddhism, and the modern value of a daily meditation practice.

Treading on the Tiger's Tail

A path is made by walking it.
(The Zhuangzi, Ch. 2)
In fear and trembling,
With caution and care,
As though on the brink of a chasm,
As though treading thin ice.
(Analects, 8.3)

Realizing emptiness, denying cause and effect -- wild and reckless, incurring calamity.
(Swampland Flowers, 21)

I have been quite reckless with my life. I had my first glimpses of a larger reality several years ago, at the age of 20. Since then, I have been circling without direction, swinging between wisdom and confusion like an erratic pendulum. Dislodged from my culture and sense of social identity, I have been in limbo, unable to turn my insight into a strength instead of a weakness. I have unwittingly poured much of my time and energy down the sinkhole of my internal schism, feeling detached from the endless chatter of the Marketplace, while simultaneously craving the rewards sought by all worldly people -- recognition, status, sex, love, pleasure.

Buddhist philosopher here

Just a quick note to introduce myself. I was born in Spain and have lived since in Europe. Raised as a Catholic, I started doubting as a teenager, gradually became an agnostic and recently realized I should define myself as atheist. During all the process I've been looking for knowledge and the understanding of the universe. Buddhism is the only structured system of believes that is acceptable to a rational, critical mind, so I'm exploring it. Just started meditation and can hardly quiet my mind yet, but I know it's one of the main ways to knowledge that are left to a philosopher.

I hope we'll share here our experiences in this path.

The first step

I just learned a lesson in concentration. I had a nice long introduction about how I discovered the path of Buddhism but of course I had several browsers open and was looking at several pages and then I got the dreaded not responding message which canceled everything out. Like everything else in this world, my eloquent message of transformation dissolved.