What Is True Joy?

What is true joy? All too soon, joy declines because of its nature to change, like all conditions of life. True joy is not an idea or belief in a perfect moment but it is knowing the truth of change and how to free…

Rare, Hard to Do, Only Solution

Living in the forest, we are always aware of the trees. Patient, deep-rooted, even in fierce storms, they stand. If we stand like the trees, committed and enduring, we can face the conditioned world with pure awareness. We see it just the way it…

Not Afraid to Love

Do we know the truth of what we are? If not, how can we love unconditionally? When the heart abides in loving-kindness, the misery of fear, anger and despair is vanquished. If we look for unconditional love outside of us, we will never find…

Silent Homage – Guided Meditation

The heart’s splendor is known in pure awareness – not tainted by any harmful thought or feeling. It is integrity itself – present now. Traverse from the self, the narrow sense of me and mine, to surrender – knowing that we are nothing of…

Arahants Have No Barnacles

Anger and fear are perilous, flammable states of mind – like barnacles attached to a ship’s hull that undermine its power to sail. So we call on wise discernment and forgiveness to rescue us. We take stock: is there any anger within me? Or…

Refining Gold

Just as one refines gold, we temper the restless thoughts and moods of the mind. We listen and deepen awareness in joyous silence, peaceful and benign. It’s a noble healing of every harm we may have suffered in life. Instead of running from pain, we…

If You Want the Moon

Between beauty and terror lies the Middle Way, at times crushing, at last – transcendent. Can we receive all of life with the pure love of awakened awareness? Just listen and watch in silence. Open and understand the heart in pure presence – the…

On the Threshold of Silence

We are caught up in the world – as if we’re in jail. But we are also on the threshold of silence wherein lies the key to pure, infinite, wordless presence. Isn’t that love – timeless, universal, here and now? Sustain that purity of…

This Is Sanctuary

The world goes on the way it does. We have no control over these conditions – just as we cannot escape diseases of the body. But waking up is not beyond us. Bowing to the present moment is  our homage to awareness, to pure…

We Are Not Separate

Do joy, peace of mind, and trusted friendship rely on the state of the world outside, or on the qualities we foster within us? In the vast presence of pure awareness, trust and courage lift our feet forward, one at a time. We are…