Zen And More

Exciting changes

Bengt — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:53:53 +0000

What’s new

I met Marc Lesser at Øredev 2009, an IT Conference for Sharing Knowledge, and I attended his tutorial on November 2nd. During the conference Marc came up with the idea of doing Zen retreats in Sweden. A friend of mine and I will work on making that a reality.

That’s what’s changing – this site will also be about these retreats. To stay up to date with what’s going on, subscribe to the blog feed either through RSS or email.

To learn more about Marc Lesser, visit his site at ZBA Associates and his blog at Accomplishing More by Doing Less. You can also follow Marc on Twitter at @doingless.

What’s old

This domain has been used for my blog around Self-discovery = becoming aware of one’s true potential, character, motives, etc. I will wade through the blog and clean out what’s off topic considering the change mentioned above. Some of the old posts will remain here, other blog posts worth saving will be moved to my hub at Bengt’s Notes. The rest of the posts will be deleted.

No related posts.

The secret of health for both mind and body

Bengt — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:02:28 +0000

I am sorting through papers and found this quote.

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticpate troubles but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.
Buddha

Your teacup is full (Empty your cup)

Bengt — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:14:36 +0000

The teacup story is around in different versions, here are two of them.

Once, a long time ago, there was a wise Zen master. People from far and near would seek his counsel and ask for his wisdom. Many would come and ask him to teach them, enlighten them in the way of Zen. He seldom turned any away.

One day an important man, a man used to command and obedience came to visit the master. “I have come today to ask you to teach me about Zen. Open my mind to enlightenment.” The tone of the important man’s voice was one used to getting his own way.

The Zen master smiled and said that they should discuss the matter over a cup of tea. When the tea was served the master poured his visitor a cup. He poured and he poured and the tea rose to the rim and began to spill over the table and finally onto the robes of the wealthy man. Finally the visitor shouted, “Enough. You are spilling the tea all over. Can’t you see the cup is full?”

The master stopped pouring and smiled at his guest. “You are like this tea cup, so full that nothing more can be added. Come back to me when the cup is empty. Come back to me with an empty mind.”

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era, received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”

Like this cup, Nan-in said, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?

A longer version of the tea story is available in The Secret Revealed – What You Don’t Know That You Don’t Know.

I like the tea story a lot, it is a great reminder that in order to learn we have to be humble, to empty our mind and make room for the new.

Here are some quotes about learning, I love the one about beginner’s mind.

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s there are few. – Shunryu Suzuki-roshi

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn – Alvin Toffler

When any real progress is made, we unlearn and learn anew what we thought we knew before. – Henry David Thoreau

Knowledge is learning something every day. Wisdom is letting something go every day. – Zen Proverb

The Five Tibetan Rites

Bengt — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:23:05 +0000

When browsing through videos from Yoga Today I came across The Five Tibetan Rites (You Tube). At Wikipedia the practice is described like this:

First Rite: Clockwise spinning: inhale and exhale deeply as you spin.
Second Rite: Inhale deeply while lifting the head and legs; exhale while lowering the head and legs.
Third Rite: Inhale as the spine arches back; exhale as the spine returns to an erect position.
Fourth Rite: Inhale while rising up; hold the breath while in the top position and tense the muscles; exhale while returning to the starting position.
Fifth Rite: Inhale while raising the body; exhale while lowering the body.

Yoga websites

Yoga Today

Bengt — Sun, 17 May 2009 19:49:44 +0000

Yesterday I was told about Yoga Today, a site with free yoga videos.

Whether you are a newcomer experiencing your first practice, reawaking your interest in yoga after a lapse in practicing or a seasoned yogi looking for a way to practice between studio sessions, you will love the convenience of our inspiring, refreshing new classes waiting for you on your computer every day.

You can also find Yoga Today at You Tube where there at present is 46 videos, the hour long ones as well as videos around ten minutes long.

I have looked at some of the videos and am impressed.

If you are on Twitter then follow @NetFleck and get updates from Yoga Today.

When mind attacks body – the nocebo effect

Bengt — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:02:36 +0000

Today at Twitter I got this link, The science of voodoo: When mind attacks body. It’s a really interesting article that goes from placebo (when mind helps the body) to nocebo (when mind attacks body).

The idea that believing you are ill can make you ill may seem far-fetched, yet rigorous trials have established beyond doubt that the converse is true – that the power of suggestion can improve health. This is the well-known placebo effect. Placebos cannot produce miracles, but they do produce measurable physical effects.

The placebo effect has an evil twin: the nocebo effect, in which dummy pills and negative expectations can produce harmful effects. The term “nocebo”, which means “I will harm”, was not coined until the 1960s, and the phenomenon has been far less studied than the placebo effect.

What I find interesting but not surprising is that this is a yin-yang pair, good and bad, in both cases the mind affects the body. The nocebo effect can also explain how voodoo works:

What we do know suggests the impact of nocebo is far-reaching. “Voodoo death, if it exists, may represent an extreme form of the nocebo phenomenon,” says anthropologist Robert Hahn of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, who has studied the nocebo effect.

The article gives an example of a person who was told that he was terminally ill and died within the said timeframe. It was then found out that the diagnosis was wrong, still the person and those surrounding him believed in it and acted/reacted as if it was true. Mind attacked body.

Despite the growing evidence that the nocebo effect is all too real, it is hard in this rational age to accept that people’s beliefs can kill them. After all, most of us would laugh if a strangely attired man leapt about waving a bone and told us we were going to die. But imagine how you would feel if you were told the same thing by a smartly dressed doctor with a wallful of medical degrees and a computerful of your scans and test results.

This issue of New Scientist is out in mid-May, I shall try to get one because I find this connection between mind and body very interesting. I know the good effects from yoga and meditation, this is the darker side of it.

Green fuel

There is a crack in everything

Bengt — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:09:09 +0000

I am a fan of Leonard Cohen and there is a part in the Anthem lyrics that means a lot:

There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.

In other words, we need to be open to let the light in – and to let our own light out.

Anthem can be seen at YouTube, Leonard Cohen – Anthem – Glastonbury Festival 2008.

9 reasons for reincarnation

Bengt — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:14:08 +0000

I came across this quote today:

Sex is one of the nine reasons for reincarnation,
the other eight are unimportant.
Henry Miller

It made me smile…

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What The Bleep Do We Know!?

Bengt — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:35:28 +0000

I know I am late on this but last night I watched the movie What The Bleep Do We Know!? and I loved it. The movie is an interesting mix, sharing knowledge and ideas but also raising questions.

The following quote stuck in my mind, it fits perfectly with my inquisitive mind.

Don’t be in the know, be in the mystery.

I got so interested that I have ordered the book which is an extension to the movie. In this case the movie came first.

The way is in the heart

Bengt — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 07:05:47 +0000

My yogateacher, Cristiaana at truth is your identity, had an event on New Years Eve with a speech and yoga class. All of us also got an affirmation, she had written different ones and put them in envelopes that we got at random. I got this affirmation:

The way is not in the sky,
The way is in the heart.
Buddha

This is perfectly inline with my own thinking. I have been working with the book Your Best Year Yet – The 10 questions that will change your life forever and as part of the process you create guidelines. One of mine says “Trust my heart and inner truth”.