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Redeeming Desire

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

The calls of Bliss

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

The Sacrifice

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...

Pure consciousness

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

Opening moves

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...

Reverse-engineering, almost

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

Scaffolds

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

The art of playful action

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

Spontaneity

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

Where to start? Where to end?

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

Seeking freedom

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

Embodiment

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

The art of hermenutics

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

Everybody can, but not everybody will

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

By force of taking away

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

Neutrality traps

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

Belief, truth, and practice

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

Yoking and unyoking attention

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...

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