Category Archives: Zen

Silent Meditation Retreat: It’s Not About Being Quiet

January 8, 2012 – 3:29 pm

This year I attended my second silent meditation retreat at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, ten days focusing on vipassanā (insight) meditation. Since people generally ask about or react to the “silence” aspect of attending a silent meditation retreat, picturing the challenge being going ten days without talking, I’ll say that’s not the challenge or point [...]

By Brian McNitt | Comments (1)

Bobby McFerrin: Universality of the Pentatonic Scale

August 1, 2009 – 12:13 am

Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the power of the pentatonic scale, using audience participation, from the June 12, 2009 World Science Festival event “Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus“. Also on stage are panelists Jamshed Bharucha, Provost and Senior Vice President of Tufts University; the James McGill Professor of Psychology and Neurosciences at McGill [...]

By Brian McNitt | Also posted in Music | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

“Does Life Suck?” A Fun Talk by Ajahn Brahm

May 24, 2009 – 10:03 am

“Does Life Suck?”, a dharma talk by Ajahn Brahm from The Buddhist Society Western Australia.

By Brian McNitt | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

How-To: Increase Happiness, Good Times in Life

March 22, 2009 – 10:21 pm

Where does happiness come from? How does one minimize dissatisfaction and create the greatest number of happy moments in life? Last night a friend asked, “Looking back on your life to date, at what points were you the happiest?” A simple enough question, I thought of a list of happy moments, some general time periods [...]

By Brian McNitt | Also posted in Health, Life | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Notes from the Universe

January 2, 2009 – 1:30 pm

Created by author Mike Dooley, “Notes from the Universe” is a humorous, inspirational daily email service based on the book by the same name. I first learned about Notes from the Universe several weeks ago from users on Twitter and have enjoyed receiving the emails since. Today’s note: Brian, today, be the person of your [...]

By Brian McNitt | Tagged , | Comments (2)

Dealing with Difficult People (Ajahn Brahm)

December 11, 2008 – 1:58 pm

Holding up the Zen end of this blog, an entertaining and practical dharma talk, Dealing with Difficult People, given by Ajahn Brahm from The Buddhist Society Western Australia. I especially enjoyed the story, “The Donkey Who Fell in the Well,” starting at 0:53:25 and “What mosquitos taught me,” starting at 1:05:00.

By Brian McNitt | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Tao Te Ching – Modern Political, Economic Wisdom

September 28, 2008 – 12:27 pm

Interested in learning more about Taoism and how it relates and differs from Buddhism, Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching has been on my reading list for the past year. While the text’s true authorship and date of publication are debated, according to tradition The Tao Te Ching was written by Taoist sage Laozi (or Lao [...]

By Brian McNitt | Tagged , , , , | Comments (3)