Foolish Zen, Foolish Trust

There is nothing to be learned from this post. No information to be stored and carried for future reference by the mind.  The invitation is to read it and then carry on with life. 


The moment of here-and-now is huge. I am not talking about the moments of the mind that are concerned with passing of  time, but the here-now moment. The passing of time is an illusion in spiritual reality.  The here-and-now is inclusive of everything because all that is in existence is in existence in this moment, here and now..

How can it exist without the context of here-and now? Surely if there is no  here-and-now there is no existence!

Therefore this very moment, this here and this now is the infinite creator. Creator of all that is right here and right now. All is so but the mind only sees a small part of it.

Spiritually, without thought and thinking the here-now can be realised - made real;  but when described by the mind that believes in time, it is not the here now. What is being described is what was – it is past.

This brings up this awkward moment that these words can only be believed, because they come from the mind, they come from knowledge, and knowledge can only point to the here-now but is not the here-now, but an illusion of the here-now.

But although an illusion, it exists in the here-and-now… for without the here-now, even illusion would not be able to exist.

What a load of nonsense Zen! And that is correct for Zen cannot be the sensibility that is creation of the mind!

risks, zen foolishness


It could be that only a total fool will trust in life completely. The total fool lives totally in the here-and-now with total trust of it. He is judged as a fool, especially by those who take advantage of him, and he keeps coming back in trust to his judges for what they did yesterday is gone. The total fool has let go of yesterday and right now is a new moment and is unpredictable..







The Sun is very powerful but doesn’t judge. It is a total fool that keeps shining down on us whether we be sinner or saint. Is the Sun so foolish? Is it not a very strong symbol of a total fool.  We are its gift of life regardless of what we do, it is only the judging mind that punishes.
Connect with life and realise innocence – the innocence that is pure and has no guilt. The word innocence is not the innocence of mind, but pointing to the very context of life, that paradoxically contains all mind stuff, all judgement stuff that is operating in the here-now.  If there is no here and no now, how can anything exist at all?

This is the awareness of the Zen master, of the buddha-mind that is breaking through the ‘shadows created in life’ The shadows that are focused on duality and rules and regulations and should-isms.
It is just so. Is that so? It is just so. Acceptance of whatever is manifest without resistance or without trying to change or alter it, or in other words, without desire.  Guatam Buddha discovered desire was the source of all suffering.

Meanwhile... I am living in the confines of my conditioning and the paradox is that to try and change it, regardless of how I try and change it, will not eradicate it. I am conditioned!  What on earth can be wrong with knowing that I am conditioned? Nothing. There is no right nor wrong except in the confines of the finite mind. 

Awareness: Being Dual


It isn’t about striving not to be dual but about being aware of duality as it is working in and through life.

Being more aware of duality existing in consciousness – focusing on it and letting it be. 

WE are the world – no better or worse, stronger or weaker than each other until we judge it to be that way.

And dualism is.

It is about just noticing our experience of living life, just noticing and allowing life to be lived through dualism.

Dharma duelling?  

There are two to make a duel and it is dual. It could be said that it is used in a Zen life to point out how dual we are when duelling. Being dual with full conscious awareness of such a state of being. Letting it all happen.

All such focused awareness may enhance the awareness of dualism. 

Keep looking at dualism when contemplating we are. 'We are' is suggesting that we are one...
One in our dualism for now. 

Keeping looking through dualism – seeing through dualism. Keep being aware of being dual and then…

The disappearance.

The Source is the Mystery

We need to be where we are at right here and right now. Focus into what is so right now. The past is gone, now is real, and constantly becoming the future. So in effect a paradox... now is not real as it is already the future!? Yes now is all we have and it is non-static.

making garden pond
I saw a frog in the garden
and was inspired to built
a pond. 

Problems could be more of an insight than a hindrance, as we have to move. If we feel stuck, the feeling is that we have to move. It is an illusion that we do not move.  For we move through our 'stuckness' whether we realise it or not!

Mindfulness makes the difference. Be aware and mindful of what is manifest. We may realise that we are 'not' the doers, but witnesses to what is happening and being done in and by the universe. Something is always happening. Many doings.  Doing is a mystery for us, for where does the impulse to do, arise?  The source is a mystery.



Who We Are - Energy: Being Mindful.


Mindfulness… 
Being alert to what is so right now. 
Sometimes being alert to having not been alert and this is… being alert. 

Allowing to be what is generally suppressed or held back...  for instance, irritation, frustration, anger.

All that is needed to transform such states is allowing and accepting, not trying 'tricks' to rid oneself of an unwanted experiencing, but staying focused and alert on what is so in the moment and accepting in totality, whatever is being experienced. 

Whatever is it, it is just the expression of energy. When we judge it to be pleasant or unpleasant, we are simply adding opinion and thwarting and suppressing our experiencing.  

Energy is mysterious and cannot be defined in itself. Energy is who we truly who we are.


Dirty Water Zen

Being aware of living in the mind. The memories are knowledge,and knowledge from the mind is memory.

Spiritual knowledge is wordless and silent, for it is experiencing. It is  existential.

Knowledge of the mind – of knowing, like dirty water… A bath-tub can be cleaned with dirty bath-water, and that would lead somewhere, so whilst I am writing, whilst I am speaking, I am existing and coming from mind - I am mind.

‘I’ can disappear if I were to be existential, experiencing it, yet unable to give it away with words or thoughts.

So dirty water may act as a guide for now.  Zen words..  Dirty Water Zen…

When I am Not

One Buddha, Many Buddhas

What is not?
What is not I?
Remember when "I-am" not and all else is... that includes "I-am".
When I am not.

Article Links To Zen Practice and Hypnotherapy.

Articles on Zen and Hypnotherapy



Hypnotherapy and Zen    Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness that enables the subject to replace negative thoughts and behaviour patterns with positive ones. It is also a 'tool' to enable a subject to recover lost (repressed) memories that are causing unwanted conditions in life. It is not really different to guided meditation when with a hypnotist, or meditation as practised alone. It often said that all hypnosis is self-hypnosis and therefore mediation.... Read more
Zen: Why Meditate?   Zazen is a form of Zen meditation whose aim it is to empty the mind of all thoughts - although many Zen practitioners would say that zazen is not meditation at all, but more of a process. It is very easy to describe how to do zazen, but it takes commitment to make it work effectively.  Read more
Zen:Balance     If you live your life in a constant state of achieving, you experience 'aliveness'. You become dynamic living in a state of achieving and not so much achievement.  Zen is the journey (achieving) and not the destination as achievement which is past. Read more
Law of Attraction  There is nothing magical or mystical about hypnosis. Hypnosis is persuasion, and to realise any form of success we have to persuade our subconscious mind that the success we aspire to is possible and is as good as manifest. Read more..
When All Is One  Most of us regard mind and body as separate parts of ourselves. But in the east, this is something that is not so. In spiritual disciplines such as Zen and many martial arts such as Ki Aikido, mind and body are considered one and these disciplines eventually lead to the realisation that All is one, and that nothing is really separate. Read more..      
The Art of Zazen (Zen Meditation)  Zen Meditation emphasises focusing on the breathing. This is because, in the East, breathing is considered to be the source of life. Zazen utilises breathing meditation and is one of the most powerful forms of meditation. Read more
Looking At Awareness  You can put your awareness wherever you want to. In your left foot, at the top of your head and so on. But you cannot define exactly what awareness is. It can't be your thoughts because you can become aware of your thoughts and re-direct them. It can't be your feelings because you can become aware and change them, if you know how.  Read more...
Zazen: A Personal Experience    Zen is certainly not for everyone. It's rewards are hard-won, and almost possible to define with words, yet words are all we have to communicate across the internet. Zen communicates through experiential practices. Read more
Chakras Chakras are vortexes of energy that are located in positions throughout the body. If you can accept the reality of energy  - and who cannot - you can accept the reality of chakras.  Read more
How to Meditate on Chakras    This is my way  of doing meditation on chakras – there will no doubt, be other methods, but I invite you drop all preconceptions about chakra development, and especially not to blindly believe in what I am saying here, but to go through this exercise and experience for yourself. Read more
Hara:One Point in the Lower Abdomen      Back in the 1980s, I attended a martial art class in Ki-Aikido and this was the first time I ever learned of the value of what our Sensei (teacher) called, ‘the one point in the lower abdomen’. Read more
Phobias & Fears    For some people, trying to ignore or wish away some phobias or  trying to ‘hypnotise’ them away can make them worse, especially if accompanied by panic attacks. Read more.
Power of Acceptance   The majority of clients who I dealt with as a therapist were suffering as a result of a severe "inner critic". Symptoms can range from severe phobias to deep depression. The resolution lies in the power of acceptance, for if we resist an unwanted experience, we may seem to be rid of it, but in most cases it is suppressed. Read more
Power of Commitment      Commitment has power.  To exercise commitment means to exercise integrity, which, in turn means to take control of your life.... Your Destiny... Read more
Power of Forgiveness   On that rare, but profound experience when Self and others can be experienced as one, the invitation for forgiveness crops up. Misfortune visits us all sometime during life and most of us seem to add even more weight to our burden through the process of blame. Read more.
Zen Eating and Dieting   Being a Zen practitioner and hypnotherapist, I supported my clients with an entirely different approach – the daily practice zazen (a form of sitting Zen meditation), to gain a higher state of awareness using this Zen method not to hypnotise, but to awaken them into a higher state of body and feeling awareness. Read More
Zen Reading  In my experience, reading books, when coupled with zazen (Zen meditation), creates a "pathway" that begins to penetrate through the barriers put up by (some would say subconscious) mind that lead ultimately to spiritual enlightenment. Read more