Buddhism vs. Taoism: when Zen was born

Every ordinary moment is pointing to our true Buddha nature | Zen Master Bodhidharma

(Daily Tao Wisdom) Buddhism versus Taoism: The Night Zen was Born: Bodhidharma

One practice that includes all others

(ECHOES OF LOST KNOWLEDGE) The ONE practice that changes everything | Zen awakening

• Is this not Ram's advice to quiet the Monkey Mind?

All is mind, mind is all: Yogachara

(SEEKER TO SEEKER) How the mind creates reality | Buddhism

Nagarjuna advocates "Middle Way"

Yogachara (Sanskrit Yogācāra) is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through the interior lens of meditation and philosophical reasoning (hetuvidyā) [1, 2].

Yogachara was one of the two most influential traditions in Mahayana Buddhism in India, along with Madhyamaka [3].

The compound Yogā-cāra literally means "practice of yoga" or "one whose practice is yoga." Hence, the name of the school is literally "the School of the Yogins" [4, 3].

Shanta Rakshita (Khenchen Bodisatva)

Yogācāra was also variously termed Vijñānavāda (the Consciousness Doctrine), Vijñaptivāda (the Ideas or Perceptions Doctrine), or Vijñaptimātratā-vāda (the "Mere Representation" Doctrine), which is also the name given to its major theory of mind that seeks to deconstruct how we perceive the world.

There are several interpretations of this main theory, which include various forms of idealism as well as phenomenology or representationalism.

Aside from this, Yogācāra also developed an elaborate analysis of consciousness (vijñāna) and mental phenomena (dharmas, "things"), as well as an extensive system of Buddhist spiritual practice, namely, yoga [1],

Tibetan thangka of Dolpopa

The movement has been traced to the first centuries of the common era and seems to have evolved as some yogis of the Sarvāstivāda and Sautrāntika traditions in North India adopted Mahayana Buddhism [5, 6].

The brothers Asaṅga and Vasubandhu (circa 4-5th century) are considered the classic philosophers and systematizers of this school, while it is also traditionally attributed by Buddhist believers to the figure of Maitreya-nātha [7].

Yogācāra was later imported to Tibet and East Asia by figures like Shantaraksita (8th century) and Xuanzang (7th century).

Today, Yogācāra ideas and texts continue to be influential subjects of study for Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism and East Asian Buddhism. More

The MIND that sees without reacting

(Buddhist Wisdom)

Mind cannot be seen, so where is it?

(Buddhism Podcast) The mind cannot be seen, so where is it? | Buddhist Wisdom

But what is aware that it is aware?

There is a mind-door, greenish in hue, near the heart. This heart-mind seems to be the physical base of consciousness, not the brain in the cranium. When meditating, attention can be adverted to the area around the heart. There there is a mirror reflecting experience, consciousness, awareness. If the "mind" were in the brain or the head, it seems attention would be placed there to find it. But it is very much down closer to what in the West we refer to as the seat of our emotions. The Buddha did not specify a physical base for vijñāna (consciousness) or manas (in Early Buddhism). However, he seems to have been well aware of the practical application of locating this base for the sake of realizing the ultimate nature of mind-and-matter (nama-rupa), ultimate mind (a stream of cittas) and ultimate materiality (a stream of kalapas). But this is for advanced practitioners of Buddhist meditation rather than philosophers and speculators. For those, perhaps Zen no-mind would be better or the compelling mind-only (Yogachara) view.

• Buddhism Podcast (video); text by Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly

Zen's Bodhidharma on the ONE method

The ONE practice that contains every spiritual method | Bodhidharma's breakthrough sermon

(ECHOES OF LOST KNOWLEDGE) April 17, 2026: What if one single practice contained every other spiritual method within it?

In this final chapter of the series, the First Zen Patriarch Bodhidharma [from India] reveals the most essential teaching of his entire lineage — and it begins with beholding the mind.

 

This video is a direct transmission of Buddhist Wisdom that cuts through centuries of misunderstanding about what spiritual practice truly means.

Discover why temples, rituals, chanting, and good deeds alone cannot free us — and what actually can.

In this sermon, Bodhidharma teaches

→ The single method that contains all other methods

→ The three hidden poisons (greed, anger, delusion) — and how they silently run our life

→ The six "thieves" operating through our own senses, robbing us of peace every day

→ Why "three asankhya kalpas [aeons of indeterminate length]" of hardship is not what most people think

→ The true meaning of the six perfections (paramitas), the three sets of precepts, and invoking the Buddha

→ How to behold our own mind and free ourselves from suffering — in this very lifetime.

This is not a lecture. This is Buddhist Wisdom spoken directly — clear, unfiltered, and as alive today as it was 1,500 years ago.

📌 THIS SERIES

• Chapter 1 — Blood Stream Sermon (watch first)
• Chapter 2 — Wake-Up Sermon
• Chapter 3 — Breakthrough Sermon (you are here)

🔍 TOPICS COVERED

• Bodhidharma teachings | Breakthrough Sermon | Beholding the mind | Three Poisons in Buddhism | Six Perfections (paramitas) explained | Buddha Nature | Zen Buddhism | Buddhist Wisdom for modern life | First Zen Patriarch | Liberation from suffering | Three sets of precepts | Six thieves of the mind | Enlightenment teachings
• Bodhidharma: between myth and reality (Penglai Martial Arts)

Every week, this channel brings rare Buddhist Wisdom drawn from the original [Mahayana] teachings of the great masters — Bodhidharma, Bankei, Linji Yixuan, and the earliest Zen patriarchs. If the ancient path to liberation is what one are looking for [that person might try Theravada, a back-to-basics Buddhist movement that holds the teachings of the historical Buddha in the highest esteem over subsequent Mahayana interpretations and apocryphal inclusions, distortions, and additions], subscribe and turn on notifications to never miss a teaching.

This video is best experienced in a quiet space, and with full attention. #BuddhistWisdom #Bodhidharma #ZenBuddhism. How this was made: auto-dubbed and audio tracks for some languages were automatically generated.

How real is reality: ALL is mind?

How the mind creates reality | Buddhism

(SEEKER TO SEEKER) Buddhist non-duality [there being no distinction between seen and seer in the Mind Only School] sees all of reality as the activity of consciousness.

Can we ever see behind this reality with DMT?

Divisions such as subject and object, mind and matter, self and world, [nirvana and samsara], are artificially created by consciousness in the process of simulating an external reality.

This video explores the philosophy of the Yogācāra School of Buddhism, a tradition that specializes in the study of mind—and how insight into the mind's workings can transform our way of being.

⌛ TIMESTAMPS

• 00:00 Introduction to Yogachara Buddhism
• 04:57 The six sense consciousnesses
• 08:17 Viṣaya-vijñapti (the "object-concept")
• 11:47 Manas (the "self" manufacturer)
• 15:12 Dualistic grasping
• 17:09 Ālayavijñāna (the unconscious)
• 22:46 Join the SEEKER TO SEEKER Community
• 23:25 The three transformations of consciousness
• 32:35 How karma and consciousness create reality
• 37:08 Why we seem to experience the same external objects
• 39:46 Awakening to non-dual reality
• 44:20 The Buddha's original non-dual teachings
• 45:40 Jiddu Krishnamurti on non-dual experiencing

• CORRECTION: Viṣaya is properly pronounced viSHaya, not viSaya, as I mispronounce it throughout this video.

⭐Join this seekers community to access exclusive content: seeker2seeker 🙏PayPal donations: paypal.com/donate...

📝 SCRIPT: Read the script of this video essay on the author's personal Substack page: [soon...]. Video editing by Sempiter & Simeon

#Buddhism #nonduality #AdvaitaVedanta #Neo-Advaita #meditation #philosophy #awakening #enlightenment. How this was made: auto-dubbed audio tracks for some languages were automatically generated. Learn more

• SEEKER TO SEEKER, Jan. 23, 2026; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly