Philokalia means 'love of the beautiful and the good', and the writings that were added to this collection were mostly concerned with the importance of awakening and developing attention and consciousness.
Category: Book Bits
La Mar, El Mar: Ernest Hemingway’s Kind, Beautiful, Cruel Ocean
Ernest Hemingway's 'The Old Man and the Sea', has to be one of the most accomplished accounts of a lifetime's intimacy with the sea.
Dogen’s Seal of the Ocean: How Meditation and Life Can Flow Like Water
Japanese Zen Master Eihei Dogen invokes an oceanic state of non-identification as something that expresses the true Dharma, or our true nature, according to the teachings of Buddha.
Out Of the Body and Into the Mountain: Nan Shepherd’s Journeys Among the Scottish Cairngorms
Published thirty years after it was written, Nan Shepherd's nature memoir describes a very physical intimacy that grew and developed through the author's exploration of the Cairngorm Mountains.
‘Simply Be Aware of the Oneness of Things’ – Lao Tzu’s Lost Teachings from the Hua Hu Ching
It is thought that in addition to the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu authored another text called the Hua Hu Ching whose full title translates as 'Lao Tzu's Conversion of the Barbarians.'
‘Your Job Is to Put On a Splendid Performance’: Epictetus’ Design for a Skillful and Happy Life
Epictetus' path to freedom attends to the aspects of life that can be controlled, while meeting with equanimity the things we can do nothing about.
To Share Fear is the Greatest Bond of All: J.A. Baker’s Loving Portrait of the Peregrine
Sometimes described as England's greatest cult book, The Peregrine is a beautiful, lyrical expression of one man's fascination with this hunting bird that he came to know intimately on a daily basis for over a decade.
Focusing the Mind: Santideva’s Verses on Meditation and Relationship
Santideva talks about the practice of meditation as a means to reveal Awakening Mind, here particularly focusing on the discipline and skill of relationship.
The Poem Is a Place in Which to Feel: Mary Oliver’s Tribute to Walt Whitman
In this stirring tribute to her shadow-companion and first poetic love Walt Whitman, poet Mary Oliver describes the experience of awakening to poetry as a door to the temple, a place 'in which to feel'.
Running With Life: Alan Watts on Freedom and Poverty
Alan Watts unpacks the imperative not to hold on to things, but to adopt a kind of psychological poverty—or simplicity— in which the mind is clear and unfettered in a way that allows it the space for true spontaneity.