A State of Concentration while you are meditating

Concentration while meditating.

If you are doing meditation and I hope you are – you will face frustration from time to time because you will think that you are unable to focus well.

I am doing Vipassana meditation and in this form of meditation we are told to develop concentration through awareness of the Breath

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Spirituality and lightheartedness

An article about spirituality.

I read my first book by Alan Watts a few months back and he has become one my favorite authors. His insights and enthusiasm for eastern philosophy are entertaining as well as instructive and inspiring.

The book that I am reading now is Become What You Are. It is just a series of articles that discusses many spiritual concepts and is not about any particular religion or philosophy as such.

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Taoism and the state of Wu Wei

The highest state of man – according to Taoism – is a state of no-doing. This is a state of
Wu Wei (a Chinese word) or Mui (in Japanese).
Before I got interested in eastern philosophy I read a number of American self-help books. None of these books did me much good.

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Gaining in well being and joy through the teachings of Buddhism

The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism are one of the foundation stones of its philosophy.

They state that:

1) There is suffering in this world.

2) This suffering has a cause.

3) The suffering can be removed by dealing with the cause.

4) The way out is the Noble Eight Fold path.

This article is about the third of these Four Noble Truths of Buddhism – cessation of suffering.

According to the Zen Buddhist Master – Thich Nhat Hanh – cessation of suffering can also be looked upon as well being. We normally have many reasons to feel good about ourselves at any given time. The problem is that we do not recognize and value and treasure these reasons and our well being.

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How to read and absorb The Art of War and apply its teachings

The Art of War by Sun Tzu is marvelous. It is a look at the thinking process of a sage and a philosopher and a warrior. You will be exposed to a way of managing and handling conflicts that is different from anything else that you have ever experienced.

Consider the following statement from the book:

"To win without fighting is the best."

Also the following story captures beautifully the essence of the book. This story has been sourced from Thomas Cleary's translation of book:

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What Spirituality really means

What is meant by spirituality runs like a common thread through all cultures and religious traditions. It is expressed in the Christian tradition by the words: "He that loseth his soul shall find it."

A Buddhist poem expresses this intuition about spirituality in this way:

"While living, be a dead man, thoroughly dead.

Then whatever you do, just as you will, will be right."

But how are we to lose ourselves. How is it possible for the ego to do away with itself?

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