Day: January 9, 2021

The thoughts manifesting from the unsafe and unstable sense of self that yearns to be protected produce a deep affliction feeling. This affliction feeling has great tendencies to repeat the irrational fear, sadness, and anxiety — with repetition and compulsions, internal dynamics become a psychological and emotional disorder.

At that stage, one will try hard to defend him/herself against unwanted events and feelings. Furthermore, there will be a strong tendency to hold on to a certain fondness, which is maladaptive. Automatically the mind filters in only to the favorite ones. These conditions easily lead to overwhelming experiences of despair, anxiety, sadness, compulsions, and addictions.
DR. Rony Kusnadi
Notable Life Counseling Services LLC

Zen Master Unmon said: “The world is vast and wide. Why do you put on your robes at the sound of a bell?”

An old saying is that whatever comes in through the gates is foreign. The gates are the senses: sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. We obey foreign commands if we decide, move, and act by the senses. In response to our environment, we feel pressured, are easily upset, and become nervous. This is one of the characteristics of modern life. But if one settles down firmly in one’s inner life, all actions, feelings, and deeds come from deep within. The unenlightened one does things because he must do them; the enlightened acts because he wants to. Freedom lies in the center of life — Zen Master Unmon points to the center.
[Zen Koans by Venerable Gyomay M. Kubose]