You likely haven’t heard of Hakuin Ekaku, but you’ve no doubt heard of his most famous question: “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” This question is a koan. Koans are a method, tracing back to Chinese Buddhist tradition, to break the logical mind so you can be more open to nirvana. While koans…
Category: Philosophy
Aim for a Calm Mind
Calmness of behavior, composure of mind, should not be disturbed by passion of any kind. –Nitobe Inazo A calm mind appears to be impossible. Everywhere we turn something is trying to disturb us in some way. News tries to make us feel unsafe. Advertisements and social media try to make us feel FOMO. Work and…
The Usefulness of Japanese Proverbs
Proverbs and folklore preserve the wisdom and hard-learned lessons of the common class. Both pass down orally, taking on regional flavors over time until someone comes along and writes them down. Proverbs, because of their pithiness and use of metaphor, tend to remain in regular speech long after folktales become literature. Sometimes proverbs become folded…
Choosing Which Video Games to Play as You Lay Dying
Whether of high rank or low, whether old or young, people die. If enlightened they die; if unenlightened, they die. Indeed everyone must die….Although everyone knows that they will die, they think they themselves will die only after everyone else has died, and they don’t consider the fact the their death may come at any…
Learning Without a Goal: The Joy of Learning
In the United States, learning is seen as a means to an end, not as an end of itself. You go to college to get a degree that will net you a good-paying job. You learn new skills on that job to get a promotion that will increase your wages. You learn that side hustle…
The Tenant of Silence
Generally, it is despicable for a warrior to use many words. -Daidoji Yuzan Bushido holds silence in high esteem. Quietude seeks to measure words, speaking only what is kind, necessary, and helpful, and so respecting the value and danger of words. Once you say something, the words are no longer yours. They can be interpreted…