Zen Doctrine of No Mind,

it this way as she was washing the lunch dishes: “Isn’t it strange that we prefer the quicksand of somethingness to the firm ground of emptiness?”

experience. Most fundamentally, our life is composed of six experiences: sights, sounds, tastes, smells, physical sensations, and mental events. From this perspective, our life is very simple. Our whole complex world is only this: changing sights, sounds, tastes, smells, touch, and thoughts and feelings. In practice we make the effort to be aware

“Om Mani Padme Hum.”

The five spiritual faculties—faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom—are our greatest friends and allies on this journey of understanding. These qualities are most powerful when they are in balance.

We attain wisdom not by creating ideals but by learning to see things clearly, as they are.

To understand karma, it is essential to see how the motivation or intention preceding an action determines the future karmic result of that action. Thus, if an act is motivated by true kindness, it will necessarily bring a positive result, and if an act is motivated by aggression or greed, it will eventually bring an unpleasant result. Because

the four foundations of mindfulness: awareness of the body, awareness of feelings, awareness of mental phenomena, and awareness of truths, of the laws of experience.

Mindfulness is that quality of attention which notices without choosing, without preference; it is a choiceless awareness that, like the sun, shines on all things equally.