Tag Archives: mindfulness

The Hindu Notion of God… How To Know Brahman Pt II

Posted on November 23, 2025 by Donna Quesada | Leave a comment

Experiencing or realizing Brahman isn’t about believing in an idea—it’s about directly knowing the ultimate reality through the transformation of consciousness. It’s the kind of knowing that can only come from experience.

How do we gain those experiences? Through the Yogas. Although the word “Yoga” is often associated with physical poses here in the west, its roots come from the Sanskrit “Yuj” and means “to yoke,” or rather, to connect to the divine that is within and without.

As I explained in Part 1 of this series on Brahman, in Hindu spiritual teachings, the divine is everywhere… there is nothing that is not divine. The Four Main Yogas highlighted below, explain the pathways to Self-Realization… to realizing that divinity within.

Note that I will interchangeably use expressions like “liberation,” and “Self-Realization,” to convey what can never be described adequately with words… the direct experience of Brahman.

Said more simply, these Yogas are the paths to God…

1.Jnana Yoga (Path of Knowledge)

This is the path of the intellect. It focuses on the philosophical ideas and meditative disciplines taught in the Upanishads and in the Advaita Vedānta.

An example would be Ramana Maharshi’s approach, which emphasizes self-inquiry to realize the Atman, or the little spark of Brahman that lies within. The central practice involves asking the question “Who am I?” to trace the sense of self back to its source and to prompt the realization that the sense of “I” is not a separate entity, but rather, just a stream of thoughts.

This method helps to dissolve the ego and to see the Self as the underlying, unchanging reality. Zen Buddhism is in many ways, a continuation of this path, with the Kensho experience of sudden enlightenment, being not unlike the realization experience of Jnana Yoga. The differences emerge in the context of Buddha’s skepticism of the permanence of the soul.

The idea is that when all identification with the body and mind falls away, the seeker awakens to Brahman — the infinite, formless consciousness — and to the unmistakeable knowing that it is none other than “I.” It was within all along. You are it and I am it and there is nothing that is not it.

2.Bhakti Yoga (Path of Devotion)

This is the pathway of the heart. It is the devotional path, which is emphasized in the Bhagavad Gita.

Here, Brahman is experienced as the personal God — whether we are referring to Krishna, Shiva, Devi, or any beloved form, including Jesus and Mary and all the saints. For the truly devotional, there is no distinction between traditions! They are all Bhakti traditions, and serve as portals to the divine.

I like to say that if Jesus and Buddha met at a gathering, they would find in each other, an instant kinship and would break bread together while talking and laughing into the wee hours of the night. It is we ignorant mortals that like to put a partition between the spiritual traditions.

In Bhakti practices, such as prayer, chanting, and silent devotion, the devotee surrenders his/her ego and experiences the feeling of oneness within.

Eventually, the sense of the separate “I” dissolves, and only divine presence remains, which is another way of realizing Brahman.

3.Raja Yoga (Path of Meditation)

This is the Yogic path described by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras, and focuses in large degree on stilling the mind. To this end, Patanjali outlines the Eight Limbs of Yoga, which form a cohesive system that begins with lifestyle, then addresses the energies of the body, and ultimately tames the wild horses of the mind, so as to achieve Self-Realization.

In summary form, here are The Eight Limbs of Raja Yoga:

Yamas (ethical restraints): My teacher called these the “what not to dos” because they include instructions to avoid harming other beings, and to avoid greed. The idea is not so much to moralize, but rather, to stay away from behaviors that tend to reinforce the ego and the idea of the separate self.
Niyamas (observances): While my teacher called the Yamas (above) the “what not to dos,” he called these the “what to dos” because they include things like commitment and surrender, which all contribute to a calm, simple and disciplined life, and make liberation more likely.
Asana (physical postures): These are the postures that most people in the west identify as “Yoga” (although the postures are but one step, in a multifaceted approach to Self-Realization!). Patanjali’s inclusion of postures recognizes the body as a more approachable vehicle toward the ultimate goal of taming the mind. The body is more tangible and allows us to break through our physical resistance to stillness as we get better at focusing our attention inward.
Pranayama (breath control): One of my teachers would always remind us that “there is only one thing the mind will follow, and that is the breath.” Working with our breath is the most viable way to calm the nervous system and in turn, the busy mind.
Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses): I like to think of Pratyahara as the discipline of managing our external distractions. It’s an application of what any elementary classroom teacher meant when he/she would tell us to mind our own business and stop worrying about what others are doing. We are cultivating the discipline to go inward.
Dharana (concentration): If Pratyahara (above) is the discipline of managing our external distractions, then Dharana is the discipline of managing our internal distractions. The ability to concentrate is not always automatic. Our thoughts take us hither, thither and yon, and harnessing the frenzied energy of the mind takes practice.
Dhyana (meditation): This is the real objective. This is the ability to sit in meditative stillness. This is what it has all been leading toward. The word “Dhyana” eventually became “Chan” as Indian teachings made their way into China, “Seon” in Korea, and “Zen” as those teachings continued on their journey to Japan. Hence, Zen focuses on seated meditation as a vehicle to enlightenment.
Samadhi (absorption): Samadhi is the experience of being absorbed in the divine. In Zen, it is called “non-distracted awareness.” In this state, the individual mind merges with cosmic consciousness.

Karma Yoga (Path of Selfless Action)

Taught in the Bhagavad Gita, this path transforms daily life into spiritual practice. The seeker acts without attachment to results, dedicating all actions to the Divine. The idea is that selfless service (seva) purifies the heart and dissolves the ego — allowing a gradual experience of God realization.

When a man sees, hears, touches, smells, and tastes what is real, and realizes that the Self is Brahman, he becomes free from sorrow.” ~Upanishads

Buddha’s Four Noble Truths: Part II… The Eightfold Path

Posted on October 25, 2025 by Donna Quesada | 2 comments

The Noble Eightfold Path is the fourth part of Buddha’s Four Noble Truths. It is usually stated as Marga, which just means “Path.” Think of it as one path, that consists of eight interconnected practices, which work together to help us liberate ourselves from our own self-created suffering.

As you’ll recall from the first part of this presentation, on The Four Noble Truths, the kind of suffering we’re talking about here, is the mental variety.

The intent of these eight steps is to habituate the wild-horse that is our mind, into a calm state of awareness.

It is worth noting that in Buddha’s brilliance, he articulated these steps so as to apply to both the actual practice of Zazen, or seated meditation, as well as to our lifestyle, as a whole. This comes through in their organization: The first two steps capture the basic wisdom of Buddhist teachings, the next three steps all concern our conduct in the world, while the last two focus in on meditation.

Finally, a note about the context… The Buddha, authentic child of India that he was, responded to the prevailing Vedic notion at the time, that if you practice asceticism—that is to say, give up everything—you could put an end to your suffering. Buddha felt that this was not the way because the “picking and choosing mind,” forever full of preferences will always dominate, so a better practice is to learn how to lean into those attachments, so to speak, rather than make the attachments go away.

We might look at the eightfold path as the practice of leaning into our attachments, so as to neutralize them and remove their power.

1. Right Understanding (Wisdom). This first step is a reminder that all experience is part of an impermanent and conditioned cycle, driven by the law of cause and effect.

That is to say, we are all connected and we all need each other to exist.

Said differently… everything needs everything else to exist.

Differently still… Everything is totally dependent on everything else. And everything really does mean EVERYTHING… the birds and the trees, the water and the clouds… everything.

This is known as Emptiness in Buddhism, which said in the simplest way possible, just means that every single thing is “empty” of self-sustained capacity (We need other things besides ourselves to exist). And if everything outside of us is just as vital as everything inside of us, then everything is “I.” Or, nothing is “I.”

I am everything and I am also nothing.

The idea is that, until we see into the nature of reality clearly, we suffer trying to hold onto things (and situations), when nothing is ours to hold onto.

2. Right Intention (Wisdom). This step spotlights the importance of keeping our thoughts in a place of acceptance… because there’s nothing to hold on to!

On a deeper level, it is also a reminder to check ourselves when we become too focused on our selves, at the expense of compassion for all… because if we’re always focusing only on our own gain, our mind will never be at rest. We’ll always be mentally calculating and clutching. Also, to focus only on ourselves is to forget how we all affect one another.

The idea is to eliminate the seeds of what Buddha called the “Three Poisons:” Greed, Anger and Ignorance. Greed and anger need no explanation. Ignorance in this context, is to disregard our inter-connectedness.

3. Right Speech (Conduct). This is the first of the three steps that deal explicitly with our actions in the world and how those actions affect others. The idea is to align our behavior with the quality of compassion.

Whenever we speak unkindly, we tend to spin it around in our heads long afterward, and this impedes the overall intention of our practice, which is to be peaceful on the inside. We ruminate on all the “shouldas” and “couldas”… “I shoulda said this”… etc. If we become better habituated to speaking simply and truthfully, there’s never a need to second guess ourselves.

But this requires presence and a keener sense of being conscious… conscious of ourselves, of what comes out of our mouths, and of how people are responding to us.

How we talk to ourselves counts, as well! Be kind and encouraging with yourself, too.

4. Right Action (Conduct). This is where Buddha’s Five Precepts come in. But I like the way Thich Nhat Hanh refers to them better, as “Five Mindfulness Trainings.”

Very simply, these are:

Reverence For Life: Usually stated as “Don’t kill,” this precept is a reminder to be compassionate toward all life. Compassion entails that we regard the lives of all sentient beings, and the plant life that sustains us all, as precious. This is a reminder to align myself with actions and habits that support and protect life, rather than with actions that cause harm. This applies to our eating habits, shopping habits, and overall consumption.

As a side-note, sometimes people like to say that we will never eliminate our footprint here on earth. To this, I say that it’s true… none of us will ever be perfect… but we’re not going for perfection. We’re trying to do better. Honesty, compassion, along with genuine effort will guide us.

True Happiness: Commonly listed as “Don’t steal,” this precept reminds us that the happiness and suffering of others are not separate from our own, so stealing something that belongs to others is an affront to our collective well-being.

True Love: This precept is commonly translated as “Don’t be promiscuous.” I much prefer Thich Nhat Hanh’s “True Love,” as it reminds us of the beauty and integrity of loving relationships, in which mutual respect is valued. It simply goes to follow that relationships that are not enriched by love and respect are more likely to be motivated by selfishness and to result in abusive or toxic relationships.

Loving Speech and Deep Listening: This precept is a reminder of the harmfulness of lying and gaslighting. The idea is to keep in mind the importance of not causing harm when we communicate.

Nourishment and Healing: I really appreciate these words, in place of the usual “Don’t intoxicate.” To heal brings to mind the spirit of this precept, which is to remember the power of consumption on all fronts… we consume food, drink, movies, internet material, AI generated material, social media, video games, commercials, and on and on. When we consume in any of these areas, we should be guided by mindfulness, and always consider the impact all of this stuff has on our peace of mind and overall state of being.

5. Right Livelihood (Conduct). This one is very clearcut, and serves as a reminder to align our work and livelihood with our commitment to reduce harm and suffering to all beings. Very simply put, try to find work that doesn’t involve killing or slavery. Don’t work in a slaughterhouse.

6. Right Effort (Meditation). Now we focus in on meditation. Right effort alludes to the steady commitment to practicing… which is no small thing. At any given moment, there’s always something easier or more “entertaining” to do than sit and face the wall. It takes dedication, to be sure, to get yourself onto the cushion.

But that’s not the end of it… once you’re on the cushion, it takes constant effort to rein in those wild horses of the mind! Before you know it, they’re off and running, into the past, and into the future, and around in circles, spinning the same thoughts over and over again.

Right effort in meditation means we’re trying, but not trying too hard… which in the Buddhist sense, means we’re pulling ourselves back to the present moment again and again, but with softness and compassion. The result is relaxed awareness.

7. Right Mindfulness (Meditation). Mindfulness is a word that has been adopted into the modern day lexicon and has been used in different contexts to the point that its original meaning has been diluted. To be mindful is to watch. In meditative practice, often a “device” is adopted to help us focus our watchful awareness. Examples are the breath, mandalas for the visually oriented, bells or other sounds for the sonically inclined, or visualization, for those with highly creative minds.

Sitting, with the sole purpose of watching, expands our capacity for awareness. We begin to see things that evaded us before… because we were distracted by a hundred things, or we were just in our heads.

We begin to see the roots of our moods… the one thought that started the whole chain reaction of other thoughts, which made us angry. We see the kernel of discomfort… the restlessness, the desire to go lie down, or the impulse to check our e-mail for the tenth time.

We come to see that with every observation, there is a choice. Whereas before, we never thought we had a choice. We were just operating out of unchecked compulsion and habit.

8. Right Concentration (Meditation). This is Samadhi… What in Zen, we call non-distracted awareness. If the previous step was still doing, this final step is being. Pure being. In Samadhi, our magical insights come spontaneously, the bliss that can only come from deep presence, sparkles forth. The trick is, not to grasp at it or try too hard to maintain it. Like sand, the harder you clench, the faster it slides away.

*This article was originally posted on Awaken.com.

2 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Buddhism, meditation, mindfulness, philosophy, spirituality

Meditation On Silence

Posted on March 10, 2025 by Donna Quesada | 2 comments

“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
~Blaise Pascal

About Silence—

Silence is defined as the absence of sound. I think of it as a tool for personal healing and reparation.
It is the way to maintain sanity.

Silence is also where creativity thrives. By this, I don’t just mean making art, but also, solving problems without force… because in the silence, is a field of endless possibilities, where solutions just pop up, like daffodils in the spring.

Silence enables you to regulate your emotions, also without force.

But, silence is all the more rare, as the world is increasingly saturated with noise.

Thus, true silence is a luxury.

That’s why it’s important to make the time to find a quiet place and just sit. It won’t find you. And if it did, you would likely fill it up with something, anything, to avoid confronting the void.

We all do this, unless we make the conscious decision to sink into it and explore its infinite curiosities.

Like anything of true value, it’s a discipline… a decision to make it a priority and honor the commitment to sit in silence for a chosen amount of time.

Silence is a place to reconnect with your own self… with your own internal world.

The time might be found early in the morning, before everyone else gets up… Or perhaps, if you’re a natural night person, it might be found late at night, after all the early birds have retired.

Some people think that silence is a time to reflect, and to clarify… to think.

But really, it’s a time NOT to think.

You see, thinking is part of the noise. It’s the noise on the inside.

You Can Call it A Meditation, If You Want—

Just watch your thoughts. Take five. But, if you’re too busy, take 10!

I wanted to say, “It doesn’t matter how you sit,” but that’s not true.

It matters. Because when you sit, and not slouch, it communicates an important message to your psyche… that this time is important. Essential. Vital… It’s a part of my mental health regime… a necessary part of my daily ritual, and of no lesser value that other indispensable daily rituals, like going to the bathroom, or brushing my teeth.

The act of sitting says, “This is my time.”

And in that time… and space… you simply sit. Thoughts will bombard you. But that doesn’t mean you’re
thinking. Thinking is when you engage with the thoughts. But, you’re not… you’re just watching them… and also ignoring them. You’re watching them, in the same way I watch the birds gather around the feeder, in the morning… from a distance, through the window, and with love. I stay out of the way and let them do their thing.

They come and they go… the big ones and the little ones. And sometimes they don’t come at all.

A Worthwhile Challenge—

Everyone is looking for “action,” and running from silence. Action means “fun.” Or so we’re conditioned to believe. We ask each other, “What did you DO last night?” And, “What are you DOING this weekend?”

And after a while, we develop a complex… We better DO something!

So, we get busy and make some plans.

We never articulate it in this way, but we resist silence.

We bathe in a world of hyper-stimulation… social media… notifications.

So, part of your silence-discipline might be to Turn Off Notifications on your phone for a designated period of time. Put your phone on the charger with the sounds off for a while. And then sit.

We are like our phones… we need to recharge, too.

Like our phones, we are ON all the time… running… always running, from one activity to the other…

There’s never enough time. The TO-DO list is endless.

But time is relative. There IS time.

The perceived lack of time is all the more reason to STOP. Because then… time stops. You suddenly have more time than you thought, like magic. The lack of time was all an illusion. That “busy-ness”… he’s a trickster!

Taking time brings more time. And space, too… because time and space are ONE.

2 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged life, meditation, mental-health, mindfulness, silence, Zen

To Drop Your Thoughts or Think Positive Thoughts?

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Donna Quesada | 2 comments

On Dropping Thoughts

If you’ve ever taken up any meditation practice, especially one emphasizing mindful awareness, chances are, you’ve been told to just let your thoughts fall away. The teacher or meditation guide likely reminded you that you are not your thoughts, as a way of encouraging you not to get frustrated by the constant bombardment of mental chatter. Just gently say, “thinking” to yourself, and come back to presence, he or she probably advised.

I call it “going sailing.” It’s a good idea to resist the urge to “go sailing” when you’re trying to meditate because the minute you get carried off on a thought cruise, you are, to put it in one of my own teacher’s words, “in your head.” If you’re in your head, spinning stories and fantasizing, then you’re not really here—you’re somewhere else that doesn’t exist…in a fabricated rerun of yesterday’s argument, or in some imagined future scenario. And the whole point of practicing mindful awareness, is to come to presence.

Thus, learning to take the perspective of “the witness” is an important part of any meditation practice. As a witness, you learn not to identify with these distractions called thoughts. You, in turn, begin to bring spaciousness into your universe, which is actually less poetic and more literal than it seems because every time you gently come back to this moment, you experience reality more fully. By bringing your concentration back to the breath, or your mantra, or the yantra, or whatever tool you choose to use as a focusing mechanism, you detach from the allure of the fantasy.

You unhook yourself from the temptation to spin the story.

There are countless stories in our heads. Liberation from their beguiling appeal is the essence of Buddha’s instruction to drop the endless desires that follow them, like smoke follows fire. We become narrow and myopic when all we can see in our mind’s eye is our story. We get hooked onto the “catch of the day”—the worry, fear, the conversation on repeat, or the anticipated scenario to come. But once we begin to unclench our bite, we begin to see more, hear more, and experience more of our world. This is spaciousness. This is the beginning of what it means to expand our awareness.

On Positive Thoughts

So, where do positive thoughts fit in? That’s just another form of “thinking,” isn’t it?

There is a useful role, to be sure, for positive affirmations. Cell biologist Glen Rein was among the first to substantiate the idea that our intentions and emotions actually affect our DNA. That the way we talk to ourselves inside our heads can have such far-reaching effects on our well-being, so as to cause changes at the cellular level is more than just fascinating, however—it is empowering. It means that we have more control over our physical, mental and spiritual health than we imagined.

The implication is that, if you can work skillfully with your thoughts and commit to talking to your self with kindness and conscious intent, then you can achieve what the scientist describes as…a heart-focused, loving state and live in a more coherent mode of physiological functioning. That’s the whole key; working with thoughts consciously, not willy-nilly.

One of the most powerful ways we can heal ourselves is by thinking positively.

As an analogy to thoughts, consider actions, in general. In philosophical ethics, we distinguish between negative commands and positive commands: The things we shouldn’t do, like stealing, and the things that are good to do, like sharing. In this way, we reduce harm in the world. Generally, the “don’t do’s” are absolute, whereas the “do do’s” are optional.

As an example, consider this situation: If I remove myself from society, say, by going off to live in a cave somewhere, I reduce the likelihood of causing injury to anyone—I’m practicing “not doing.” This would be akin to dropping thoughts. But this is impractical! We all have lives to live, people to talk to and things to. So, this brings me into the realm of positive action and the need to be more conscious of how these actions will play out in the world.

We don’t have control of the infinite trail of karma over time and space, but with good intent, I simply increase the chances of a positive outcome. This is akin to positive thoughts in the world of our body-mind and the far-reaching ways that affirmations can heal not only ourselves, but our world, as well.

The reach is actually infinite, considering the way that these internal vibrations, called thoughts, will reverberate through our cellular structure, the fabric of our emotions and, like wakes behind a boat…outward, through our energetic projection, our words, our choices, our purchases, our conversations and everything we do.

Thinking positively may be seen as the active component of our practice, where mindful awareness is the softer, more passive part. It’s like reaching out for the apple rather than waiting for it to fall. It’s recognizing my role as the creator of my universe and my power to manifest my health and well-being. It is the Yang to the Yin.

—–

Watch Donna Quesada talking about this topic on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI9Dh0OQsK8&list=UUxc0a3y2axlhrEPmgoGuk9Q