Over the years, I’ve explored and greatly benefitted from a variety of body-cultivation traditions—the majority of which have their roots in India or China. Iyengar Yoga The first was Iyengar yoga, which I was drawn to for its therapeutic applications. I was in my early 20’s and still recovering from a serious ankle injury, which had been creating all kinds of problems, also, in my hips and …
Nonduality
How Can There Be Instruction?
From the Avadhuta Gita of Dattatreya: "Where mind and speech can utter nothing, how can there be instruction by a teacher? To the teacher—ever united with Brahman—who has said these words, the homogeneous Truth shines out." * …
Only By Courtesy: Sankara’s Definition of Real
As of late, I’ve been enjoying a pair of books, toggling back-and-forth between them in a way that feels quite interesting and enriching. One of them—Insight into Emptiness by Khensur Jampa Tegchok—harkens from the Buddhist Madhamakaya tradition. The other—The Seven Great Untenables by John Grimes—expresses the view of Advaita Vedanta. So, I read a bit from one, then a bit from the other—as …
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Ultimately Self-Liberated
The main way to practice is to see that your disturbing emotions and concepts exist only in relative reality. They do not exist in genuine reality, and ultimately they are self-liberated. See that is is the same for all contradictions and conflicting appearances—they exist only in relative reality. Ultimately, their nature is self-liberated equality. So whatever manifests in your …
Practice Notes: Into-Me-See
Three times in as many weeks, I’ve come across articles and/or online discussions on the topic of spiritual intimacy vs. human emotional intimacy. Questions that have been posed and then discussed include: * Which is more important: spiritual intimacy or human intimacy? * Which should take priority: being devoted to the Divine, in love with God—or being in love with and devoted to human …
Reliability & Self-Evidence
The Reliability of the Scientific Method In his book, Reality Is Not What It Seems, physicist Carlo Rovelli offers this beautiful description of the essence of the scientific method: The answers given by science, then, are not reliable because they are definitive. They are reliable because they are not definitive. They are reliable because they are the best available today. And they are the best …