Meditations

There is a lot of talk about illumination these days, most of it throwing little light on the subject. The interest no doubt reflects a hunger for spiritual sustenance, as…

An inventor–a man whose name I happily forget but who was called “Edison’s successor” by the interviewer—claimed recently that in 30 or 40 years science will be capable of making…

One of the best Paul Newman movies is a western called ‘Hombre.’ There’s a memorable scene in which a beautiful, middle-aged woman is tied to a post in the desert…

It was a very windy day, with gusts approaching 75 kilometers per hour. You would think the hummingbirds would be hunkered down somewhere. But a small fleet of them put…

A conversation with a Buddhist professor from India turned to Siddhartha’s illumination, the last stage of which was challenged by what we in the West call Satan. “The Buddha,” he…

The human brain is the only brain on this planet that has the capacity to be consciously aware of the sacred. Not the self-projected sacredness of churches and texts, but…

The clearest and purest understanding of Jesus I ever heard came from an old Chinese Buddhist woman who had fled her country during the Cultural Revolution. Not burdened with the…

I dislike the term ‘mystical experience.’ What happens during true meditation is neither mystical, nor an experience. It’s an event, a phenomenon that is new each time. The brain has the…