Spinoza famously stated that ‘desire is man’s very essence’ (Ethica, III, def. of affects, 1). Ordinarily, desire manifests in two...

Perhaps you glimpsed at that in a piece of art. Art takes the materiality of sensory experience, it refines, reshuffles, restructures,...

It is fairly common to get into a certain practice by imitation. Something becomes the hype of the moment and one wants to try it out. Or...

The first time I was born out of fear and ignorance. Seeing this folly, following the path of the Silent Sage, I turned around, seeking...

Experience of anything can be spelled out as ‘consciousness of something’. The ‘of something’ part indicates the intentional nature of...

'Contemplative practices' is an umbrella term that can be used to refer to a number of various methods, generally aimed at inducing some...

In a chess game, the first moves are usually quite important. Players aim at taking some control of the center of the board and allow...

How should I practice? This is an important question, and its answer is made somehow fuzzy by the multitude of different methods,...

Force develops against resistance. Growth demands constraints. When constraints work systematically and methodically, they create a...

In the beginning of the Bhagavad Gītā (2.50) we encounter the following short definition: yogaḥ karmasu kuśalam, which might be...

There is a condition in which life flows by itself. It does not matter what exactly is experienced, but whatever happens seems to unfold...

We might encounter teachings, practices, and other aspects of contemplative traditions in a pretty random way: a Buddha Head looking out...

Whatever feeling is felt (pleasant, unpleasant or neutral), do not indulge in craving for the pleasant, or in aversion for the...

In the Udana 3.5 there is this short stanza: “Sati kāyagatā upaṭṭhitā, Chasu phassāyatanesu saṁvuto; Satataṁ bhikkhu samāhito, Jaññā...

As any pianist would know, there are two boundaries within which any interpretation has to move. On the one hand, one is confronted with...

The discourses present the teachings of the Buddha as potentially addressed to everybody, although they also make it clear that not...

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) said: 'by sculpture I understand that which one does by force of taking away' ('per scultura io...

A core business of the practice presented in the discourses is to reach a form of dispassion and emotional neutrality. This means that no...

Even superficial familiarity with the history of philosophy and ideas (especially from a global perspective) immediately reveals that...

In Sanskrit and Pāli, yoga literally means 'yoke.' Like the yoke put by farmers on the neck of oxen. In a more metaphorical sense, yoga...