Recent posts tagged Buddhism

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2021

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Look No Further

On the (easily misunderstood) Zen doctrine of not looking for fulfillment through outside phenomena.

2020

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Now Exhale, Already

This year did leave its mark on me. I only now see this.

The Zen In My Work And Vice Versa

I never wanted to be a "Zen SF&F author". If I did receive that label, I think I'd be very unhappy about it.

Big Z, Little Z

Why I don't mention Zen much in "mixed company".

From Inside Out, Pt. 3,276

Spiritual advice don't mean a thing if it don't come from within.

What It All Means

Zen's influence on my work.

The New Needs Friends

The new needs friends, not evangelists or apologists.

2019

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A Cure For The No Future Blues

ON SF exhaustion, and the point of believing in tomorrow.

I Have Been In This Elevator Before

A mindset to be identified and resisted.

Snoopy's Neck

On a childhood possession and the nature of grasping.

Even One Word Is Power

I write fiction because I do not want to die feeling I have had no control over my life.

Self-Work In Progress

If you don't work on yourself, it makes the job of others defining you against your will easier for them.

Constructive Loafing

On Zen as the "do-nothing" philosophy (which it isn't).

The Passive Type

Zen as nonintellectual, rather than anti-intellectual. But also non-passive.

You Won't Find It Here

I sometimes feel like books about writing should be prefaced with, "You won't find any 'literature' here."

The Worst Horse

"If you understand Zen as a kind of practice to be a best horse you will have a problem."

2018

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Do(ing) The Right Thing

"moral action is also, inevitably, practical action, and immoral action is inevitably impractical..."

Sometimes Nothing Can Be A Real Cool Hand

There's this line about Zen practice that comes up a lot, that it doesn't "give" you anything.

Now Is The Only Moment Of Your Life, And Other Necessary Delusions

It doesn't mean the present moment is the only thing that exists, or that plans are foolish things.

Too Smart For Your Own Good

"Beginner's mind" is not something we can impose on others.

Enlightenment NOW!!!

The desire for something quick is not itself wrong.

This Is What You Want, This Is What You Get

"No man demands what he desires; each man demands what he fancies he can get."

Theorizers Vs. Practitioners

Zen matters when it's practiced; it's getting people to practice that's the hard part.

The Unthinkable Lightness Of Being

On how Zen and Buddhism are not anti-intellectual, but non-intellectual. Big diff there.

The Royal We And The Singular I

On what we do with the discovery that we're not things, but processes.

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See other Buddhism posts for 2018