Ikigai (生き甲斐, lit. "reason for being") is a Japanese concept of an individual's definition of the meaning of one's own life [1]. It can be finding a sense of purpose in life [2, 3] as well as holding it as a source of motivation [4]. According to a study by Michiko Kumano, feeling ikigai as described in Japanese is usually the sense of accomplishment and fulfillment that follows when people pursue things they're passionate about [5]. Activities that generate the feeling of ikigai are spontaneous and undertaken willingly, not imposed on an individual, making them personal and dependent on a person's inner [6, 7, 8, 9] sense of an internal locus of control. According to Japanese psychologist Katsuya Inoue, the concept of ikigai consists of two aspects, "sources or objects that bring value or meaning to life" and "a feeling that one's life has value or meaning because of the existence of its source or object." He classifies ikigai into three categories: social, non-social, and anti-social ikigai... More
Kaizen(改善, "[micro] improvements") is a Japanese word that has been adopted outside of Japan as a concept that asserts that significant positive results may be achieved due to the cumulative effect of many small (even trivial) improvements. It is put into action by continuously improving. It is about consistency, not perfection. Kaizen also applies to processes, aiming to eliminate waste and redundancies. It may be referred to as zero investment improvement (ZII) due to its utilization of existing resources [2], a Japanese philosophy frequently applied to business operations. More
Hara hachi bu (腹八分目, actually hara hachi bun me) is a Confucianism-inspired [1] teaching that instructs people to eat in moderation -- only until they are 80 percent full [2], never 100%. The Japanese phrase translates to, "Eat until you are eight parts (out of ten) full" [2] or "belly 80 percent full" [3]. There is evidence that following this practice leads to a lower body mass index (BMI) and increased longevity, and it might even help to prevent dementia in the elderly. More
Ganbaru (頑張る, lit. "standing firm," Romanized gambaru) is a Japanese word that roughly means to slog on tenaciously through tough times [1]. The word is often translated as "doing one's best," but in practice, it means doing more than one's best [2]. The word emphasizes "working with perseverance" [3] or "toughing it out" [4]. Ganbaru means "to commit oneself fully to a task and to bring that task to [its culmination]" [5]. It can be translated as persistence, tenacity, doggedness, [hanging in there like a kitten on a motivational poster], and hard work. The term has a unique importance in Japanese culture [6]. More
Wabi-sabi ("the art of imperfection")? In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi (侘び寂び) centers on the acceptance of transience and imperfection [2]. It is often described as the appreciation of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete" [3]. It is prevalent in many forms of Japanese art [4, 5]. Wabi-sabi combines two interrelated concepts, wabi (侘) and sabi (寂). According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, wabi may be translated as "subdued, austere beauty" and sabi as "rustic patina" [6]. Wabi-sabi derives from the Buddhist teaching of the Three Marks of Existence (三法印, sanbōin), which are impermanence (無常, mujō), disappointment (苦, ku), and not-self/emptiness, the impersonal nature of all things, devoid of self-nature (空, kū) [7]. Characteristics of wabi-sabi aesthetics and principles include asymmetry, roughness, ruggedness, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and the appreciation of natural objects and the forces of nature. More
(KODEN OBSCURE) May 26, 2026: Zen Wisdom: Been struggling to break a bad habit for years and feel like it's losing battle using willpower?
Many of us are fighting a war we were never meant to wage. In this video, we explore a profound piece of wisdom from the Japanese monastic tradition: Zen monks never fight their habits.
Instead of using force, they use intelligent design. Discover the five unusual and quiet methods used in Zen monasteries to redirect energy, change environments, design time, and observe urges without judgment.
Learn why treating our mind with patience rather than going to war with it is the ultimate secret to lasting freedom. What this video covers:
Why willpower almost always fails in the long run
The "replacement gesture" and how to redirect energy
How breaking the spatial anchor of a room can instantly stop an urge
The danger of "empty time" and how monks structure their day
Why harsh self-judgment actually feeds our bad habits.
CHAPTERS
0:00 The monk who couldn't break a habit
1:29 The secret monastic view of habits
3:01 Method 1: The replacement gesture
4:10 Method 2: Breaking the spatial anchor
5:29 Method 3: Eliminating undesigned time
6:50 Method 4: The practice of conscious permission
8:15 Method 5: Escaping the loop of self-judgment
9:37 - Why fighting keeps the habit alive
10:29 - Wrestling the shadow (a Zen metaphor)
11:37 - How to finally become free.
Make sure to subscribe for more insights on Eastern philosophy, mindfulness, and personal mastery. #zenwisdom #breakbadhabits #japanesephilosophy #mindfulness #selfimprovement how to break bad habits, Japanese philosophy, Zen monk teachings, habit replacement, stop using willpower, Zen monastery secrets, overcome bad habits, personal growth, self improvement, mindfulness practices, replace bad habits, Zen habits, Eastern philosophy, mental health, how to stop overthinking, discipline, atomic habits, dopamine detox, Buddhist philosophy, master the mind
Thoughts of sensuality (craving for pleasures of the five senses) oppress the person beset by them again and again, becoming an obsession and compulsion. What's worse, getting what one craves does NOT solve the problem: Wanting is still there or soon comes back. Getting was no solution at all. Repeatedly getting in fact leads to addiction, a worse compulsion that sees no way out of the quagmire. (Giggity).
When the goal of the mind-body is just pleasure and more of it, the trap begins to become clear. But what other goal might one set for oneself? Liberation from disappointment and all suffering (dukkha). That goal is nirvana, realized by enlightenment (bodhi). But how?
That is what a Buddha answers, having exposed the problem, he claimed there is a cause (craving accompanied by aversion, both rooted in delusion) to our disappointment/suffering. There's a final solution, too. The fourth ennobling (enlightening) truth is that there is a path, a middle way, to the solution.
That might be a better goal, something else to fixate on and strive for, relaxing into it until the illusion dissolves and ultimate-reality becomes clear. Until then, what's a person to do but take Jerri Blank's advice to herself, "Don't think about sex, don't think about sex, don't think about sex," which will be about as useful as saying, "Don't think about pink elephants."
Did you just think of pink elephants? Didn't we just say not to think of pink elephants. Why do we keep saying "pink elephants," which only makes us think of pink elephants... Don't think about sex. Oops! We just said...
(It doesn't work to try to not think about what you're thinking about; it does work to think about something else and keep thinking that other thing).
Americans exaggerate how often they actually go to church
I'm the most religious of all. - Touch it. - No.
(ReligionForBreakfast) New research using smartphone location data reveals a massive gap between how often Americans say they attend religious services and how often they actually do.
00:00 Intro
00:43 Problems with self-reported surveys
2:20 How the smartphone study worked
5:12 The results
[Cellphones are spying on me, my location, activities, and every single thing we say in private like wearing a wire for The Man even when we think the phones are off?] Are surveys wrong? Are memories fuzzy?
Here's what the data really shows about religion in America.
Why Buddhism accepts other religions (while others do not)
Discover how the historical Buddha's radical approach to religious and spiritual acceptance changed history forever and why this solution might be exactly what our divided world needs today.
This is the story of how the Buddha's Dharma or "Doctrine" built bridges while others built walls. DISCOVER:
Why the Buddha shocked religious leaders with his revolutionary approach
How ancient temples prove Buddhism's unique acceptance of other faiths
The surprising reason other religions couldn't follow the Buddha's path
How Buddhist ideas strengthened other religious traditions [particularly what came to be known as Hinduism, derived from the Vedic and Brahminical religions of proto-India]
Why modern scientists are fascinated by Buddhism's inclusive approach
Why companies the world over implement "mindfulness" (sati) training courses
🎬 TIMESTAMPS
00:00 The most accepting religion?
02:05 Pattern of history
04:26 The defense of faith
06:42 Buddha's revolutionary move
08:52 Mind-blowing success
11:57 The Buddhist secret
14:47 Challenge
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Religion for Breakfast, March 27, 2025; Buddha's Wisdom, Jan. 8, 2025; Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Impatient? Rush to Minute 2:37 to hear Christian approach and the Devil's opposition to being good
What is the Zen way to liberation? Kindergarten
Imagine beginning the Rains Retreat (Buddhist Lent known as Vas) with the idea of being good. Mara will come right at you like an angel of light (Mara Devaputra, Cupid, Eros, Kamadeva) and undermine your efforts, won't he? That's his modus operandi, as Alan Watts explains. But Taoism, and therefore Zen Buddhism, has a solution: Don't let him know what you're doing. One must act without intention, without premeditation, without the goal or outcome in mind so as to not let him know what we're up to on our path to be good. Otherwise, he'll just come along and ruin our efforts like taking candy from an old person or trying to give veggies to a baby: They'll fight you.
Not 40 days, but for more than 40 years, Alan Watts has earned a reputation as one of the foremost Western interpreters of Eastern philosophy.
Beginning at age 16, when he wrote essay for the journal of the Buddhist Lodge in London, Watts developed an audience of millions who were enriched by the wisdom of the East through his books, recordings, radio shows, public television programs, and public lectures.
In all, Watts wrote more than 25 books and recorded hundreds of lectures, all building toward a personal philosophy that he shares in complete candor and joy with readers and listeners throughout the world.
Insight can do what the ego cannot do by doing. - Philosophy or sophistry? Does Watts go too far?
Sixties icon? He was at it since before the 1950s.
His overall body of work has presented a model of individuality and self-expression matched by few philosophers, modern or ancient.
KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles continues to air Watts on Sunday mornings (8:00 am) and during Something's Happening midnights on Thursdays overnight to Friday.
Writers James Lapine and William Finn; Producer Kurt Deutsch; Stephanie J. Block (genius.com)
Trina and Marvin, Beauty and the Beast or how men must sometimes seem to females -- brutal
I'd like to be a princess on a throne
To have a country I can call my own
And a king
Who's lusty and requires a fling
With a female thing
Great, men will be men
Let me turn on the gas
I caught them in the den
With Marvin grabbing Whizzer's ass
Oh sure, I'm sure, he's sure he did his best
I mean he meant to be what he was not
The things he was are things which I forgot
He's a queen
I'm a queen
Where is my crown?
I'm breaking down, I'm breaking down
My life is shitty
And my kid seems like an idiot to me
I mean that's sick
I mean he's great
It's me who is the matter
Talking madder
Than the maddest hatter
If I repeat one more word
I swear I'll lose my brain
Oh, what else should I explain?
Oh, yes it's true, I can cry on cue
But so can you
I'm breaking down, I'm breaking down
Down, down
You ask me, "Is it fun to cry over nothing?"
It is
I'm breaking down
Now let's consider what I might do next
I hate admitting I've become perplexed
I'm bereaved
I've cried, I've shook, I've yelled, I've heaved
I have been deceived
As enemies go, Whizzer is not so bad
It's just he's so damn happy
That it makes me so damn mad
I want to hate him but I really can't
It's like a nightmare how this all proceeds
I hope that Whizzer don't fulfill his needs
"Don't" is wrong
Sing along!
What was the noun?
I'm breaking down, I'm breaking down
I'll soon redecorate these stalls
I'd like some padding on the walls
And also pills
I wanna sleep
Sure, things will probably worsen
But it's not like I'm some healthy person
I've rethought my talks with Marv
And one fact does emerge
Oh, I think I like his shrink
So that is why I might turn to drink
I'm on the brink
Of breaking down
I'm breaking down
Down, down
I only want to love a man who can love me
Or like me
Or help me
Help me!
Marvin was never mine
He took his meetings in the boys' latrine
I used to cry
He'd make a scene
I'd rather die
Than dry-clean Marvin's wedding gown
I'm breaking down, I'm breaking down
It's so upsetting when you've found
That what's rectangular is round
I mean it stinks
I mean he's queer
And me I'm just a freak
Who needs it maybe every other week
I've rethought the fun we've had
And one fact does emerge
I've played the foolish clown
The almost virgin who sings this dirge
Is on the verge
Of breaking down
I'm breaking down
Down, down
The only thing that's breaking up is my family
The only thing that's breaking up is my family
But me, I'm breaking
Down!
(Joseph Frazzetta) FALSETTOS: "I'm Breaking Down" by Barbara Walsh and Joseph Frazzetta, Nov. 1, 2010: from William Finn's Falsettos.
Vicki Lewis in "Falsettos" (Vicki Lewis) July 8, 2014: Vicki sings "I'm Breaking Down" from the musical "Falsettos" at the Wilshire Theatre in Los Angeles.
Stephanie J. Block - I'm Breaking Down (live at Barnes & Noble)
(Allison K) Jan. 27, 2017: This is perhaps the most heartfelt rendition Stephanie J. Block has ever performed, singing "I'm Breaking Down" from Falsettos. It was at the cast recording CD signing, 01/27/17.
Maybe it would work with Willy Brown, but blowing this interview isn't helping the candidate at all. If only instead of hiding for the past three years doing nothing (or having nothing to show for anything she has done, just like the sum total of her time in politics and the legal system) she had practiced being human, empathic, affable like Clinton (Bill, that is). But instead she's a monster, and all of her staff knows it. We'll be the ones to find out too late.
No, she did a great job and outsmarted the Fox News interviewer
There was a time when she needed to be replaced
Exchanges so bad that an evasive attorney could not play along, be nice, and stop acting defensive? This is how impromptu, unplanned speeches will go as well as any question-and-answer periods for the remainder of her time in office? Suddenly, dumb Trump doesn't look like the worst choice but more like the devil we know rather than the one we don't. He sometimes doesn't put his foot in his mouth. Sometimes he just stands in front of helicopters for press conferences and pretends not to hear. Sometimes he doubles down on mistakes and owns them, pretending as if he meant to say things that way. He's very dumb. What Kamala's excuse? Is her idiocy and off-putting demeanor calculated? She's like an angry reptilian, as if such beings already possess her body to play the role of second in command to a mentally absentee Biden. Harris has already been president when Biden has been put under for medical procedures. We were not told that, but she should probably say so because it's not looking good. We trust the Deep State will shove her down our collective throats so that Israel can have its wars unimpeded by our slow and secret funding. But it kind of makes Trump look good in comparison, the true-liars who says the quiet parts out loud because he's so dumb and vain and senile.
Trump's “unity” speech devolves into racist, white supremacist, ignorant stump speech as Trump goes off the rails one-third in, lying, demonizing migrants, spreading self-serving falsehoods, and embracing authoritarianism
(Democracy Now!) July 19, 2024: DN! hosts a roundtable the morning after DJ Trump accepted the Republican nomination for president with VP pick JD Vance on Thursday, just five days after surviving an assassination attempt, delivering the longest acceptance speech in convention history (94 minutes).
Trump began with a somber recounting of what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a bullet grazed his right ear, and soon went off script to deliver a rambling diatribe against various political enemies and repeatedly demonized immigrants.
“The first three or four days of the convention were pitched as a display of unity,” says Benjamin Wallace-Wells of The New Yorker, who says the nominee “got in the way” of the party’s plans.
“Trump was just straightforwardly weird.” Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa, founder of Futuro Media and NPR's long-running show on Latino issues, says the vicious anti-immigrant rhetoric from Trump and almost every other speaker throughout the week is built on lies.
“If everything that he said is true, then our American economy would be tanking, right? And, actually, there would be rampant crime across the streets. That is not the truth. And even Trump supporters…know that’s not the truth,” says Hinojosa.
DN! also speaks with former Ohio Senator Nina Turner, who says both Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance are promoting a false populism that does not actually support workers or challenge the power of big money.
“We do need a president that will put the working-class people ahead of corporations. We do need a president that will line up the supposed values of this country with policy. The problem is, President Donald J. Trump is not it, and neither is J.D. Vance,” says Turner, a senior fellow at The New School’s Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy.
ABOUT: LATEST SHOWS. Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.
Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: democracynow.org/subscribe. Donate
How to do a magical mudra (physical gesture) to achieve anything we want
(Dhieyo) Sept. 21, 2021: What is a mudra? It is a hand or body gesture with intention behind it to produce a result. It can therefore be a kind of magic.
Discover the power of mudra – hand gestures in Buddhist art
(Sotheby's) The Buddha used many mudras, each with a specific and well understood meaning. They often seem to be describing what he was doing while he sat in silence. Others indicated his activities in statues, iconographic depictions of him in his life, such as teaching, dispelling fear, resting in stillness (concentration, samadhi), or offering a blessing.
COMMENTS
(@devidaughter7782) Thank you for the beautiful images and detailed descriptions! One note: it's less pejorative to say "oral tradition cultures" rather than "preliterate" as the latter term implies that all societies will develop written languages. Many rich and wonderful Indigenous cultures around the world have remained oral traditions; this does not imply that they are "less developed" or inferior in any way. In fact, their wisdom has remained relational, fluid, and alive in contrast to the limitations that have come with written texts. It is important for us to use language that reflects a respectful acknowledgement that rich wisdom traditions occur in both oral and written traditions.
How to attract anyone with Three-Eyed Mudra even the gods and goddesses!
(Devraha Gyan ENGLISH) Dec. 22, 2021: To learn more about Ashtanga Yoga, meditation, Eastern religion, and Vedic knowledge, subscribe to this channel.
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Not everyone wants to be a writer, but every writer wants to be a better writer. How? It's good to read a lot and read widely. The examples we stumble upon do much to open the mind to the possibilities of the pen. It is sometimes even better if we can glean some advice from successful writers. They do not endure by chance but by the whim of changing tastes of the audience. What will endure 100 years from now? That's what matters to those attempting to write literature. For the rest, the producers of pulp fiction, anything will do. It's all just fodder for sales. Beware the imitators. Kerouac is more influential now because he influenced so many influential people after him. He was onto something, studying Buddhism before it was trending.
Jack Kerouac's rules for good writing
(polymathematics) Oct. 17, 2018: Jack Kerouac, the king of the Beats, has 30 rules for writing to share with aspiring writers of any generation. Rule 0, which is not stated, is "Be ruggedly handsome." Look what it did for James Dean. But great writing can overcome even that.
By Jove and Jack, I think I got it — the spirit of the Beat, like when they say, "What do kids like about the crazy music today?" It's the same reason it's always been, whether the parents understand it or not: the beat, the beat, the beat!
Going Off Road
Get out of my way.
Seven (5/19/24) I swerve on each turn, like I always do, like I've always done all my life, turning to stare at people who interest me, because the ones I prefer are the madcaps, the spirited ones overwhelmed with a sense of urgency to reach the ring, to say something worth saying, to seize liberation, with a zest for everything all at once, madcap laughers like Syd B., who never utter an obliging commonplace, but revel and burn, who plummet like a shooting star, shining bright falling far, streaking phosphenes into the eye, flares, shattered glass, a thousand multiplications of the sun, each a sparkle in the heat, a gleam of steam the fogged breath of a wolverine, and everyone pants, "F yeah!" (Inspired by JK's On the Road)
Charles: Too derivative.
Seven: Of course it's derivative. I'm a student, following his example. I'm more passionately saying what he was attempting to say but at a more pounding beat, given the fiercer music we have today — grindcore and Bambie Thug, The Agonist (Alissa White-Gluz) and Dimmu Borgir, Die Antwoord and Eternal Conspiracy. It's madness, howling, burning from the inside as Bauhaus would say. Primal scream.
Charles: In that case, try it again.
Seven: We should open it up to readers of Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal. I'm sure any writer reading has in mind the deluded thought, "I'm sure I could do it better." Write it. Send it in — to the Comments Section below. We won't print it unless it's worth printing. (Comments do not automatically post).
Charles: So it's a contest?
Sort of. Here are the parameters. Pass this and be invited to send in more writing for consideration and possible publication. Writing is better when it has more restrictions, fewer degrees of freedom. Think about it. If the prompt were merely, "Do whatever." That's too many possibilities. But if there are fewer and fewer degrees of freedom, suddenly greatness emerges. We'll only give three rules to be able to judge and to be judging the same thing (comparing oranges to oranges):
Limit of 12 words
Topic: Burning from the inside
Use the word "road"
Charles: That sounds easy enough.
Seven: Guarantee you, Chuck, most will s***w it up, which will cut down on our number of finalists.
Charles: But a dozen words?
Seven: Honest Tea, their limit was 6 words, and people sent in amazing things that were printed on the inside of the caps. "Brevity is the heart of poetry." Get to the point. Edit. Cut the fat.
Charles: That's too hard; they'll never get it.
Seven: Okay, we'll add a fourth stipulation:
Break one of the rules, if you want, but say which one you broke or be disqualified.
Charles: That's impossible.
Seven: No, we already have a submission. The contest has only been going on for 7 minutes, and we already have a submission.
Charles: What is it?
Sariputra saw it just as it is.
Seven: It comes from a Mr. Buddha from Scythia, who has chosen to break the third rule, and has nevertheless come up with something very profound:
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