Bear's Blog

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Babies are the epitome of innocence, untainted by the world, pure - like the meme of the 3 wise monkeys would suggest. In the Buddhist tradition “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” is about avoiding evil thoughts and deeds. It’s also been interpreted as choosing to ignore indecent or dishonest behavior. Either way the ultimate meaning is about mature people taking responsibility for how they think and act. Today it can be hard to discern...

After years of wandering, both physically and metaphorically, an Indian ascetic (formerly known as Prince) sat in meditation under a ficus tree. He was determined, for once and for all, to get to the heart of the matter – enlightenment.  There he would sit, do or die!

He had quite an eventful evening, getting the low down on all his past lives in great detail. Then he saw that cycle of rebirth and death as a cosmic scorecard, what we call “karma”. Then – aha!...

"The forms of Zen Buddhism – black robes, chanting, incense and sitting in zazen– seemed all too familiar to me, echoes of many past lives."

I recently became lay-ordained as a Zen Buddhist. I have been hanging around Zen temples since my teens, but was never much interested in studying the literature and linage of the form. Of course I picked up some of those teachings along the way – more than I had thought, actually – but I was drawn to Zen because of its main...