Tag: Buddhism

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Waiting For God

Steve Rowe

Waiting For God I feel you looking out of my eyes,Listening through my ears,Tasting with my tongue,Smelling through my nose. But this vehicle won’t pass another MOT,The joints are rusty,Tissue is infected,It can barely run,It’s about ready for the knackers fire. It was elegant,A pleasure to drive,Would accelerate rapidly,Stop and turn on a sixpence,A reminder of classic times. Your consciousness permeates every cell,Always aware and alive,Observing yourself,When the body transmutes,The shape changes But consciousness is immortal. Continue reading Waiting For God

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Greedy Eyes

Steve Rowe

When you’re young you’re taught to have ‘greedy eyes’, to want more than you need.As you age, if you develop right view, you start to realise only what you need.Slowly you get rid of and let go of everything you don’t need.From material things, to people, to emotions.You stop looking back, you stop looking forward.You stop being greedy.You keep letting go, you stop wanting until time stands still.Instead of trying to grab and conquer life, you let it come to you.Until it doesn’t, and you loosen the last part. Continue reading Greedy Eyes

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Is The Purpose Of Life To Be Happy?

Steve Rowe

Is the purpose if life to be happy? It seems to me that the ‘successful’ people thrusting their ‘happiness’ in our face on every social media media platform every day are actually the opposite, behind their masks (and I know plenty of them) they are deeply troubled and flawed people. They are using that facade to sell ‘happiness on a stick’ to other deeply troubled and flawed people. They think that attention, fame and wealth will create the contentment they seek and their customers are forever chasing the tail of happiness that is just disappearing around the corner in front … Continue reading Is The Purpose Of Life To Be Happy?

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Dealing With Toxic People

Steve Rowe

Do you feel guilty when others around you are soaked in misery? Don’t. Because if they are genuinely suffering, empathy requires a soft front and a strong back to help, you suffering along with them out of guilt doesn’t help. There are also manipulative people who use and exaggerate their own suffering, sometimes even unwittingly, because they can see it makes you feel guilty and they either want to control you or just enjoy making you miserable as well. If you are an empathic person this is really difficult, these people might be at work, family or friends, it’s all … Continue reading Dealing With Toxic People

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Do I Want My Youth Back?

Steve Rowe

Insight while training this morning… Thank goodness the morning nausea has gone (except fort the day of the Tensho seminar 🤷‍♂️), but I still wake up with chronic fatigue, meaning that even my morning wash and dressing has to be done in stages with rests between each stage, followed by a rest with coffee and toast before I can train. Tai Chi opens my spine, deep front line and through the connection, all the joints and myofascia. Despite the underlying fatigue and pain from the surgeries, amputation, cancer treatment and chronic arthritis in all of my body, the training makes … Continue reading Do I Want My Youth Back?

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Look To The Old to Understand The New

Steve Rowe

温故 (On-ko) is to ask old things. 知新 (Chi-shin) is to know new things. This is really interesting, the idea or principle of learning should be properly understood and permeate everything in our lives and particularly our martial arts. We are often guided toward modern business and spiritual gurus wasting a lot of time and money, not really understanding that there’s nothing ‘new’ in the universe and that truth stands for all time in all things. If we know how to look, the roots are deep and worth researching. For me, ‘truth’ in the way the world works, the underlying … Continue reading Look To The Old to Understand The New

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How To Fit In…

Steve Rowe

I’ve always had a lot of difficulty with word ‘love’ because you can ‘love’ anything from ice cream, to your dog or wife and religious or spiritual people are always telling us that we should to ‘love’ everyone – and there’s no way I can do that. I might not be able to love everyone but I can find patience and kindness toward them, so I work with that. The ‘soft front and strong back’ mean that I can meet everyone with patience and kindness first and to do that it can be supported by resolve, determination and fortitude. This … Continue reading How To Fit In…

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3 Characteristics Of Existence

Steve Rowe

The search for truth is everything. The Buddha gave us 3 truths, the ‘characteristics of existence’ that are obvious but important to fully understand. ImpermanenceEverything is constantly changing and acceptance and understanding of this truth prevents unnecessary suffering.“The shape changes but not the form” – Tao Te Ching SufferingLife is suffering. Caused by the desire to have or not have something. The basic suffering of life cannot be avoided and must therefore be accepted, but ‘suffering about your suffering’ can be understood with insight and therefore averted and enlightened. Non SelfThe ‘self’ is the software of your ‘meat vehicle’ (your … Continue reading 3 Characteristics Of Existence