Life is after all a form of affirmation. However insistently the blind may deny the existence of the sun, they cannot annihilate it. Life as it is lived suffices. It is only when the disquieting intellect steps in and tries to murder it that we stop to live […]
Excellence Reporter: Ping, what is the meaning of life? Ping Fang: This has been the question pondering in my heart since childhood. What is the purpose of being human? Is there any meaning to it? I was born in the time of the Cultural Revolution in China – […]
“The more you know, the less you need.” “The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life. It’s so easy to make it complex. What’s important is leading an examined life. Mastery… is to work toward simplicity; replace complex technology with knowledge, hard work, and skill. […]
Excellence Reporter: Taco, what is the meaning of life? Taco van der Mark: This is the question which has been on my mind since my childhood. What is the purpose of Life, what am I doing here on this earth? In my teens I remember one of those […]
Excellence Reporter: Dr. Habito, what is the meaning of life? Maria Reis Habito: The meaning of life – that is a very big question, not easy to answer. From my point of view today I would say: the meaning of life is living it. Fine, but how? Simply […]
Excellence Reporter: Henry, what is the meaning of life? Henry Shukman: I’m not too sure about the meaning of life so I’ll start with the purpose. “What is the purpose of life?” a student once asked a master. The master replied: “Play.” The student was disappointed. “I’ve come […]
Excellence Reporter: Ben, what is the meaning of life? Ben Connelly: I do not know the meaning of life. I have chosen to give my life meaning by making a commitment to healing and liberation from suffering for all. Not knowing the meaning of life is helpful to […]
What is the meaning of the question “what is the meaning of life?” What does “meaning of life” mean? Whatever the answer, it will always be a human mental construct. Every mental construct is created by the human being based on its social, cultural, political, religious, ideological, economic, […]
“The meaning of life is just to be alive.It is so plain and so obvious and so simple.And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panicas if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.” It’s pretty obvious I think that when we talk about life having or […]
Excellence Reporter: Shifu Wang, what is the meaning of life? Shifu Wang Bo: A believer asked me this question: “What is the meaning of life?” I meditated for a moment and replied: “Enjoy every moment you have.” Seeing the confused expression of the believer, I said: “Let me […]
In the years since my ordination as a Zen Buddhist Priest and in the time I have been teaching Buddha Dharma, all forms of Zen Meditation and the Way of Zen at the “Zen Buddhist and Yoga Retreat” in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland in Queensland Australia, from the […]
When this question suddenly appeared in my mailbox, after a moment of astonishment, I really rejoiced! Finally! Finally we can get to the heart of things! Indeed, I am often asked how I live as a Buddhist nun, where I live, what I do with my days, for […]
I suppose that when we reflect on what is the ‘meaning of life,’ or perhaps what the significance of existence has been, we are in essence wondering what underlying, common thread has given continuity, or integrity, to our myriad, varied experiences. The question is often answered in generic platitudes—to love well, to […]
Excellence Reporter: Monk AnShin, what is the meaning of life? Claude AnShin Thomas: “To open one’s eyes widely and to breathe consciously. Everything else will reveal itself from there…” *** ~Claude AnShin Thomas, Zen Buddhist Monk, Vietnam Veteran, International Advocate of Nonviolence, and Author, was ordained in the […]
In the Zen tradition we learn that when it comes to the big questions such as “What is This reality?” and “Who’s asking?” and “What is the meaning of life?” there are no answers and no way of knowing. Knowing is considered a delusion of the rational discriminating […]
Excellence Reporter: Roshi Wendy, what is the meaning of life? Roshi Wendy Egyoku Nakao: This question, “What is the meaning of life?” drove my spiritual search from my childhood through my mid-twenties until I encountered Zazen, the sitting posture that unites body-breath-mind in the mystery of life right […]
Excellence Reporter: Sensei Carl, what is the meaning of life? Sensei Carl Genjo Bachmann: Sitting quietly doing nothing spring comes and the grass grows by itself. -Basho “Sitting quietly doing nothing” refers to a mind that is still. And when the mind is still “spring comes and the […]
This is what there is: Waking in the dark and cold. No more sleep. This is what there is: Rain on the roof. Newspaper soaked and muddy. His mouth trembles as he thinks of children suffering. Autumn leaves, red yellow, suddenly changing. This is all there is: Sitting […]
Excellence Reporter: Rev. Elbert, what is the meaning of life? Rev. Meian Elbert: The meaning of life – I don’t know. Perhaps what we are really trying to ask is, What is the purpose of life? Again, if we try to answer this in universal terms (the Purpose […]
Excellence Reporter: Peter, what is the meaning of life? Peter Wohl: I believe that the current interest in this question about the meaning of life reflects the deepening state of alienation that we humans are living in. I presume that our indigenous ancestors would have found this inquiry […]
*** ~James H. Austin, M.D. is a neurologist, researcher, Zen practitioner, Professor Emeritus of Neurology at the Univ. of Colorado Health Sciences Center, courtesy Professor of Neurology, Univ. of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville, and author of seven recent MIT Press books on Zen and the brain.www.ZenAndTheBrain.com Copyright […]
Excellence Reporter: Angie Roshi, what is the meaning of life? Angie Boissevain Roshi: I am eighty years old and when I was 13 years old, I realized that the human brain is too limited to even begin to understand life’s meaning, or even if it has any meaning at all. Therefore, I’m […]
Excellence Reporter: Master Bobrow, what is the meaning of life? Joseph Bobrow: Whew, just to ask is to begin to open. To inquire. We exhaust cognitive reasoning and just inquire, cultivating our innate curiosity. We become intimate with the question itself, allowing it to unfold, rather than grasping for an answer. […]
Maybe you’re not particularly worried about death, but perhaps you’ve had periods where you questioned whether there was any enduring meaning in life. Maybe you asked the question: Is this all there is? Or: What is the point? This isn’t unusual, since by nature we’re programmed to seek […]
To live it fully and completely, not to waste it, but to give it meaning. If we don’t give our life meaning it has none. When we live just to satisfy our limited desires and wants we can’t seem to find meaning and purpose. If we always put […]
Excellence Reporter: Teacher Jason, what is the meaning of life? Jason Quinn: Zen Master Seung Sahn once said, “Human life has no meaning, no reason and no choice, but we have our practice to help us understand our true self. Then, we can change no meaning to Great Meaning, […]
Excellence Reporter: Master Taigen, what is the meaning of life? Taigen Dan Leighton: The meaning of life is exactly the sustained inquiry into the meaning of life. This involves awakening to our omnipresent capacity for insight and kindness, and the natural wholeness we each express in our own […]
The Meaning of Life is completely tied to What is Life? And I would say: The path is life And the purpose of life is to live it where we are, To be soothed by its waters still flowing, and warmed by the sun that reaches those who […]
Excellence Reporter: Hozan, what is the meaning of life? Hozan Alan Senauke: Life has no particular meaning. Or it is far beyond my ability to see the entirety of it. The question is: what will I do with the life that has been given to me? Will I […]
Like two sides of a hand Awareness and the Objects of awareness are one thing. Awareness is Life. It is intimate and personal. Our awareness fills our world. Each of our lives is filled with unique goals and intentions. The actualization of these goals, the manifestation of these […]
Excellence Reporter: Master Low, what is the meaning of life? Albert Low: Life has no meaning: but life is intensely meaningful. For life to have a meaning would require that there be two aspects: life without a meaning and a meaning without life; somehow the two must come […]
Excellence Reporter: Professor Habito, what is the meaning of life? Ruben Habito: Allow me to respond not as a “professor” but as one human being just like yourself, just like everyone else for whom this question is unavoidable, and looms large in our minds. It confronts us every day […]
Excellence Reporter 