Recent posts tagged Zen
2023
The Happiness Monsters
You can provide the conditions for their happiness, but you can't strong-arm happiness on people.
Nothing You Don't Already Have
I didn't study Zen to be more creative, but to have a more honest relationship with my creativity.
Vision Thing Progress Report
This last week, I've spent working on Charisma, but I've taken a step back from the manuscript itself to rework and replot the book. It's still got the same overall design and the same direction and conclusion, but many of the details along the way had to be adjusted once I wrote a rough version of the first third or so. These things happen; it's a good thing. It means I'm getting a handle on the book by way of the concrete details I have for it already -- that whole "in the trenches vs. from 30,000 feet up" thing.
One With Everything, Again
I don't feel the purpose of Buddhism is to subsume others, or to make them over in our image.
One With Everything, Deluxe
One of the real headspinners I ran up against when reading about Hua-yen Buddhism is the idea that things are the same because they are different.
2022
Out Of Mind
Discussion: "If you will conceive of a Buddha, you will be obstructed by that Buddha!"
You Got It
"Your true nature is something never lost to you even in moments of delusion, nor is it gained at the moment of Enlightenment." A discussion.
One-Pointed Text
The overwhelming majority of Western fiction that tangles with Buddhism comes out looking flat-flooted and foolishly literal.
I Got The Feelin'
Gut wisdom and creativity, examined.
All 'N All
Zen wonkery: on the idea that all things are enlightenment incarnate.
Here, Now, Nowhere
On using Zen Buddhist notions of time in writing SF&F.
A Clear(er) Head For The Future
What Zen taught me about writing SF&F, part 1.
How To Make Sense Of The Universe
We might as well have narratives that make sense of the universe in constructive and nurturing ways.
What Is To Be Done, And All That
On the meaning of "self-care" in a burning world.
Higher Ground
On the disconnect between the highest and most refined forms of spiritual guidance, and the day-to-day suffering people have.
In The Right Spirit
More notes on writing SF&F, as a Buddhist- and Zen-influenced author.
Short Attention Span Theater
Distraction or recreation? On the meaning of fun.
All Of This And Nothing
More about Buddhism's most misunderstood concept, "emptiness".
2021
The Impossible Immutable
In a story that spans multiverses and multi-selves, do we even need to talk about a "self"?
Warning: Buddha Ahead
If you meet one on the road, you know what to do. Right?
Let's Blow This Popsicle Stand
When you are faced with a world this chaotic and nasty, is the only sane response to reject it wholesale?
All These Things Are Mine (And Yours, Too)
The one thing about Zen and Buddhism that most stood out for me: the idea that everyone's already enlightened and just doesn't know it yet.
Finitude's Melancholy
I'm experiencing a resurgence of that feeling of how human life, my life, is a limited thing.
The Justdoitness Of Things
On how the dharma is for doing, not talking about.
We Are Absolutely Sure There Is No Future
On the absolute primacy of the present moment (part 6,312).
