Hurt me plenty
5 Apr 2026
One way we can think about lay life is akin to a hardcore difficulty mode in a computer game. When we ratchet up the difficulty in a trial, it shows us our weaknesses. Each failure prunes the tree of our possible responses—if we are careful to keep track—until only the optimal paths remain, within the limitations of a situation. When the kids are screaming in the car, when there is strife at work,...
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What can we have faith in?
24 Mar 2026
I read Bhikkhu Anālayo's critique of Rob Burbea's Seeing That Frees with interest. It raises questions about when we can trust that a teaching is valid, and on what grounds. The sense I sometimes have is of walking over a wooden platform high above the ground. Many of the planks are sound and will take your weight, but a few are rotten and if you place your full weight on them they will break....
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No suffering without craving
7 Jun 2025
The farmer cannot make the crops grow. The farmer can only provide the conditions for the crops to grow
The four noble truths are arguably the central teaching of Buddhism. They are not intended as laws beyond investigation, as though they were commandments written on free-standing stone obelisks.
The noble truths are actually an expression of conditionality, of dependent arising...
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The utility of doubt
4 Jun 2025
In Zen Buddhism, the greater your doubt, the greater will be your enlightenment. That is why doubt can be a good thing. If you are too sure, if you always have conviction, then you may be caught in your wrong perception for a long time.
—Thich Nhat Hanh
Doubt is one of the major hindrances to the Buddhist way of life. This kind of doubt isn't a healthy questioning—everything can be...
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The three imps
4 Jun 2025
Next time you're berating other drivers or complaining about the weather, reflect on whether your distress is the result of misguided expectations about life
The previous post hinted at the relationship between dependent arising and emptiness. That is, the teaching of how phenomena arise in dependence on other phenomena, which means that they are "empty of inherent existence" as the...
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