bodhidave
@bodhidave.bsky.social
humanistic psychodynamic Buddhist deconstructionist ... and all-round sweet guy
interested in cross-cultural parallels in contemplative practice
.
https://utexas.academia.edu/DavidCollins
[header is the rock garden at Ryōan-ji; avatar is an enso]
interested in cross-cultural parallels in contemplative practice
.
https://utexas.academia.edu/DavidCollins
[header is the rock garden at Ryōan-ji; avatar is an enso]
Pinned
bodhidave
@bodhidave.bsky.social
· Nov 21
Deconstructing Mindfulness
There’s been a marked increase in studies of mindfulness and meditation in recent years.
thesideview.co
1:2
The numbers of followers for this account increased this week. I'll re-post an essay I have online which reflects on the present-day "mindfulness" movement.
In that piece, about half-way through, I mention the experience of practicing the jhānas ... and ...
thesideview.co/journal/deco...
The numbers of followers for this account increased this week. I'll re-post an essay I have online which reflects on the present-day "mindfulness" movement.
In that piece, about half-way through, I mention the experience of practicing the jhānas ... and ...
thesideview.co/journal/deco...
I'm a longtime contemplative (meditator), and look to stay careful about what I know and don't know. But there's no denying experiences of having other's able to feel it when I'm meditating (and me feeling them) — including animals. I've had cats I've never met come sit with me when I meditate.
Share your most sucessful woo-woo habit. I'm not talking about journaling or EFT tapping, I mean something that has truly changed your life and the way you interact with the world.
#esotericsky
#signalboost
#esotericsky
#signalboost
February 14, 2026 at 5:59 PM
I'm a longtime contemplative (meditator), and look to stay careful about what I know and don't know. But there's no denying experiences of having other's able to feel it when I'm meditating (and me feeling them) — including animals. I've had cats I've never met come sit with me when I meditate.
In honor of the day. 💕
The Sino-Japanese character for "mind" (心) can also mean "heart." I have a Japanese Zen teacher friend who, when he says, "I think" — when we might put our finger to our head — he touches his chest. ❤️🙏
February 14, 2026 at 12:54 PM
In honor of the day. 💕
Reposted by bodhidave
There can of course be different levels and understandings, but I'm reminded of being in a lot of pain as a kid when resuscitated after nearly drowning — everything hurt, but it was beautiful because anything at all was happening.
February 13, 2026 at 6:02 PM
There can of course be different levels and understandings, but I'm reminded of being in a lot of pain as a kid when resuscitated after nearly drowning — everything hurt, but it was beautiful because anything at all was happening.
again in tonight's meditation allowing and appreciating a sense of "me" and "mine" as an experience, rather than as a something having and possessing experience
February 13, 2026 at 4:05 AM
again in tonight's meditation allowing and appreciating a sense of "me" and "mine" as an experience, rather than as a something having and possessing experience
🙏 🙂 ❤️
February 12, 2026 at 1:12 AM
🙏 🙂 ❤️
In tonight's mediation the sense was ... with a bit of a chuckle ... that for me these days it's not so much about attaining a certain experience, and more about the fact that there is such a thing as experience.
February 11, 2026 at 4:17 AM
In tonight's mediation the sense was ... with a bit of a chuckle ... that for me these days it's not so much about attaining a certain experience, and more about the fact that there is such a thing as experience.
tonight's sunset, outside Asheville
February 10, 2026 at 11:19 PM
tonight's sunset, outside Asheville
from some writing I'm doing ...
🌈 🙏
🌈 🙏
February 10, 2026 at 4:40 PM
from some writing I'm doing ...
🌈 🙏
🌈 🙏
sunset this evening from my front steps, outside Asheville
February 9, 2026 at 11:30 PM
sunset this evening from my front steps, outside Asheville
Phrased a little lyrically, tonight's meditation was like...
What's more immediate and basic and original than a thought?
Let that be the meditation.
.
(Alternative "lyric"...)
What's more immediate and basic and original than a thought?
Let that have you.
What's more immediate and basic and original than a thought?
Let that be the meditation.
.
(Alternative "lyric"...)
What's more immediate and basic and original than a thought?
Let that have you.
February 7, 2026 at 4:15 AM
Phrased a little lyrically, tonight's meditation was like...
What's more immediate and basic and original than a thought?
Let that be the meditation.
.
(Alternative "lyric"...)
What's more immediate and basic and original than a thought?
Let that have you.
What's more immediate and basic and original than a thought?
Let that be the meditation.
.
(Alternative "lyric"...)
What's more immediate and basic and original than a thought?
Let that have you.
There was 7 inches of snow in my yard a couple days ago ... and today there are little Persian speedwell flowers in the lawn (which I'm seeing described as a "winter annual weed").
February 6, 2026 at 11:17 PM
There was 7 inches of snow in my yard a couple days ago ... and today there are little Persian speedwell flowers in the lawn (which I'm seeing described as a "winter annual weed").
Put only slightly playfully, tonight's meditation was about allowing an embrace from something that's more original than I am. 🙂 🙏
February 6, 2026 at 4:19 AM
Put only slightly playfully, tonight's meditation was about allowing an embrace from something that's more original than I am. 🙂 🙏
If approached in metaphysically conceptual terms, "God is transcendent" means God is, like, on a plane outside this world. But if understood in practical, experiential terms (and we ask how such a statement *works*), it's akin to how our experience of sleep transcends our waking & thinking process.
February 6, 2026 at 12:19 AM
If approached in metaphysically conceptual terms, "God is transcendent" means God is, like, on a plane outside this world. But if understood in practical, experiential terms (and we ask how such a statement *works*), it's akin to how our experience of sleep transcends our waking & thinking process.
Reading a book on apophaticism (a fancy word for letting go of words) and see statements like "[The Divine] is essentially incomprehensible."
As a basic, if over-educated, meditator person, it seems more to the point that what gets called the Divine is just too basic and immediate for our concepts.
As a basic, if over-educated, meditator person, it seems more to the point that what gets called the Divine is just too basic and immediate for our concepts.
February 5, 2026 at 11:44 PM
Reading a book on apophaticism (a fancy word for letting go of words) and see statements like "[The Divine] is essentially incomprehensible."
As a basic, if over-educated, meditator person, it seems more to the point that what gets called the Divine is just too basic and immediate for our concepts.
As a basic, if over-educated, meditator person, it seems more to the point that what gets called the Divine is just too basic and immediate for our concepts.
Nicholas of Cusa (15th c.) suggested "idolatry ... gives to an image that which belongs only to truth itself." Could say the same about our concepts and ideas—they're better appreciated as poetry.
Especially given our waking, thinking, "wording" mind isn't the starting place— it, too, is generated.
Especially given our waking, thinking, "wording" mind isn't the starting place— it, too, is generated.
February 5, 2026 at 11:04 PM
Nicholas of Cusa (15th c.) suggested "idolatry ... gives to an image that which belongs only to truth itself." Could say the same about our concepts and ideas—they're better appreciated as poetry.
Especially given our waking, thinking, "wording" mind isn't the starting place— it, too, is generated.
Especially given our waking, thinking, "wording" mind isn't the starting place— it, too, is generated.
from my walk up the hill just now, outside Asheville
February 5, 2026 at 9:14 PM
from my walk up the hill just now, outside Asheville
Reposted by bodhidave
1/x
I've been in a couple conversations lately with persons who hold the view that there are no experiences that aren't pre-shaped by conceptual frameworks (and thus there are no real cross-cultural commonalities in contemplative/ meditative experiences).
I've been in a couple conversations lately with persons who hold the view that there are no experiences that aren't pre-shaped by conceptual frameworks (and thus there are no real cross-cultural commonalities in contemplative/ meditative experiences).
September 17, 2023 at 6:39 PM
1/x
I've been in a couple conversations lately with persons who hold the view that there are no experiences that aren't pre-shaped by conceptual frameworks (and thus there are no real cross-cultural commonalities in contemplative/ meditative experiences).
I've been in a couple conversations lately with persons who hold the view that there are no experiences that aren't pre-shaped by conceptual frameworks (and thus there are no real cross-cultural commonalities in contemplative/ meditative experiences).
for fun, here's some of the Cloud author's Middle English
(I've kept most of the original spelling, but I've modernized the lettering — Middle English [= Chaucer's time] had a couple letters that we don't use anymore, namely, the thorn, “þ,” for “th”, and the yogh, “ȝ,” for “y” or “gh”)
(I've kept most of the original spelling, but I've modernized the lettering — Middle English [= Chaucer's time] had a couple letters that we don't use anymore, namely, the thorn, “þ,” for “th”, and the yogh, “ȝ,” for “y” or “gh”)
![And if ever thou shalt come to this cloud [of unknowing] and wone {abide} and work therein as I bid thee, thee behooveth... put a cloud of forgetting ... betwixt thee and all creatures that ever been made... As oft I say "all creatures that ever been made," as oft I mean, not only the self creatures, but also all the works and the conditions of the same creatures. I out-take not one creature, whether they been bodily creatures or ghostly, nor yet any condition or work of any creature, whether they be good or evil; but shortly to say, all should be hid under the cloud of forgetting in this case. (Cloud 5)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:gp3ps5sbvhaw4psrhu6nfvzt/bafkreieriumngsd5m3rpa77sy6bjea4w3yagxricwzhctcrs3cwvsl4qim@jpeg)
February 4, 2026 at 1:58 PM
for fun, here's some of the Cloud author's Middle English
(I've kept most of the original spelling, but I've modernized the lettering — Middle English [= Chaucer's time] had a couple letters that we don't use anymore, namely, the thorn, “þ,” for “th”, and the yogh, “ȝ,” for “y” or “gh”)
(I've kept most of the original spelling, but I've modernized the lettering — Middle English [= Chaucer's time] had a couple letters that we don't use anymore, namely, the thorn, “þ,” for “th”, and the yogh, “ȝ,” for “y” or “gh”)
tonight's sunset, outside Asheville
February 3, 2026 at 11:06 PM
tonight's sunset, outside Asheville
good morning
the moon setting, from my kitchen window (8°F)
the moon setting, from my kitchen window (8°F)
February 3, 2026 at 1:04 PM
good morning
the moon setting, from my kitchen window (8°F)
the moon setting, from my kitchen window (8°F)
1-8
I'm a longtime contemplative (meditator). I'm also a bit of an academic. I'm writing a book addressed to my daughter on the nature of contemplative experience, and considered across cultures. Here looking at a passage from the contemplative philosopher, Plotinus, I've indulged my academic side.
I'm a longtime contemplative (meditator). I'm also a bit of an academic. I'm writing a book addressed to my daughter on the nature of contemplative experience, and considered across cultures. Here looking at a passage from the contemplative philosopher, Plotinus, I've indulged my academic side.
February 2, 2026 at 8:00 PM
1-8
I'm a longtime contemplative (meditator). I'm also a bit of an academic. I'm writing a book addressed to my daughter on the nature of contemplative experience, and considered across cultures. Here looking at a passage from the contemplative philosopher, Plotinus, I've indulged my academic side.
I'm a longtime contemplative (meditator). I'm also a bit of an academic. I'm writing a book addressed to my daughter on the nature of contemplative experience, and considered across cultures. Here looking at a passage from the contemplative philosopher, Plotinus, I've indulged my academic side.
snowy sunset just now, outside Asheville
February 1, 2026 at 11:03 PM
snowy sunset just now, outside Asheville
good morning, from outside Asheville
February 1, 2026 at 12:36 PM
good morning, from outside Asheville
Snow falling, and having just written about Plotinus' portrayals of all manifest things as a "dance" of a One truth and source, I'm reminded of this Zen image of all things-and-one:
reed flowers in the snow.
Reed flowers are white. Snow is white. Neither being erased, they're together in suchness.
reed flowers in the snow.
Reed flowers are white. Snow is white. Neither being erased, they're together in suchness.
January 31, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Snow falling, and having just written about Plotinus' portrayals of all manifest things as a "dance" of a One truth and source, I'm reminded of this Zen image of all things-and-one:
reed flowers in the snow.
Reed flowers are white. Snow is white. Neither being erased, they're together in suchness.
reed flowers in the snow.
Reed flowers are white. Snow is white. Neither being erased, they're together in suchness.
I am a white man, born in Selma in the late 50's.
The words Christopher has posted pretty much sum up her 1.5 min interview ... and they got me 😭.
These are of course brutally unethical times. We all need to step up for one another.
The words Christopher has posted pretty much sum up her 1.5 min interview ... and they got me 😭.
These are of course brutally unethical times. We all need to step up for one another.
Hell, yeah.
“I’ve got white skin, so I’m using my privilege to speak for my friends and neighbors. We’re telling them to stay home and stay safe, and we’re coming out and fighting for them.”
“I’ve got white skin, so I’m using my privilege to speak for my friends and neighbors. We’re telling them to stay home and stay safe, and we’re coming out and fighting for them.”
January 31, 2026 at 4:15 PM
I am a white man, born in Selma in the late 50's.
The words Christopher has posted pretty much sum up her 1.5 min interview ... and they got me 😭.
These are of course brutally unethical times. We all need to step up for one another.
The words Christopher has posted pretty much sum up her 1.5 min interview ... and they got me 😭.
These are of course brutally unethical times. We all need to step up for one another.