Author Archives: Jean Low

teisho 1343 (2014) Nisargadatta: The reward of self-knowledge is freedom from the personal self. There is general, basic awareness which, in its purity, has no reflection. And then there is self awareness: it is a sort of tunnel vision, limited … Continue reading →

teisho 735  (2000) We take so many things for granted.  We set up certain habits, ways of reacting, and repeat them over and over again. Gurdjief used to say that the curse of human nature was the mechanicalness of human nature.  It … Continue reading →

teisho 707  (2000) Everything is an opportunity for practice.  Everything is an expression of the Dharma.  Dogen. You can find what you have lost, but you cannot find what you have not lost.  Nisargadatta. The question ‘Who am I?’ has … Continue reading →

teisho 1303  (2013) The basic question in our practice, and really in our lives, is  “What is death?” This question is the same as “What am I?”  People talk about the mystery of death, but life is no less a … Continue reading →

teisho 738 (2000) It is not enough that we have a good practice on the mat. We need to be able to bring our practice into everyday life. We need to stay present in activity. It doesn’t matter what you … Continue reading →

teisho 1286 (2012) Nisargadatta says: “All experience is transient, but the ground of all experience is immovable.” Any experience, no matter how sublime, how profound, how revealing, is still an experience, and as such it is not the ground of … Continue reading →

teisho 1116    (2008) Hridaya – that which is basic to it all.  It all goes back to I am.  You cannot pin it down, you cannot say ‘that is it’.  You cannot say anything definitive, but that does not mean … Continue reading →

teisho 1025  (2006) The big danger with practice is that it becomes a habit;  we do it because we do it. The wellspring of discontent and dissatisfaction, of yearning, can so easily dry up in the sands of habit.  Opening … Continue reading →

Teisho 1238  (2010) Buddha said, ‘Life is suffering.’ Suffering is the very fabric of life. One can liken life to a tapestry: experience is the warp, suffering is the weft. Once one realises that pain and suffering are a manifestation … Continue reading →

teisho 683  (1999) When we ask ‘what is Mu?’ and ‘what am I?’ these are not questions in the ordinary sense of the term.  Normally when we ask a question we are wanting information. At a deeper level, we are … Continue reading →