Best Of
Re: Community
This feels like a good addition to the thread. They talk about the need for connection for a happy life and some practical ideas for going about it in our lives. Its not a simplistic "individualism bad, collectivism good" type conversation. Somewhere around the 30 minute mark the guest talks about her experience living in both worlds being lonely in an individualistic culture means isolation from community/family, while being lonely in a collectivist culture means not being seen within your community/family because of the need to fit in. I wish I could remember how she described the balance between them that she thinks is the ideal to strive for.
person
Re: Eight Simple Zenish Habits
Interesting topic. In the way of this video, which lifts eight good things about Japanese culture into view, you could probably also find a number of good things about Dutch culture. Similarly, a given culture also has a shadow side, which becomes clear while living a number of decades as part of it.
Whether adopting a culture’s good properties is a good way towards learning to be a better person, or even a more mindful or more Buddhist person, is another matter. You don’t experience the level of conditioning of growing up in a culture, the immersion of experiencing a childhood within it. You likely acquire a certain surface-level impression.
Jeroen
Re: Eight Simple Zenish Habits
I love to find faults with anything, I am exceptionally good at it. 
People might not want to hear risks involved with this and that, but it's not finding them, the issue. It's ignoring them or focusing too much on them. In any case, thank you for your lengthy reply, if you truly disagree, you went out of your way with this, so your kindness is appreciated and I'll let you continue the topic with your original points as intended.
RobinH
Re: Eight Simple Zenish Habits
@RobinH said:
I'm not here to argue, but I find the thumbnail somewhat provocative, as if I'm supposed to believe that most Japanese people, on a cultural level are well aware of all these terms and their meanings and are consciously practicing such habits. I'd be surprised if they'd consider most of these a part of their national identity or heritage, even if to many they are, or for us outsiders it's what Japan is like. It's a bit like when Native Americans appear to be an endless source of wisdom, but the image is not necessarily accurate, even according to actual Native Americans. And that is all I meant, not that these practices are dumb or useless, but that they seem to be romanticized in relation to their origins.
You’re entitled to your own view @RobinH , one person’s meat is another person’s poison.
At this present moment in time, this video may simply not be for you, and that’s okay. Such is life, with all its likes and dislikes.
Meaningful engagement with another culture’s practices does not require perfect knowledge of their origins or wholesale replication of their forms. This video is just one glimpse into cultural trails found in Japan; in the West, some may find its contents helpful, while others may not.
I am also reminded of the Buddhist practice of mindfulness, sati. Western psychology has taken what is essentially a by-product of the practice, the ability to pay attention and the calmness that comes from a focused mind, and bottled it for marketing. What is presented as mindfulness in apps, courses, or corporate training often misses the ethical and philosophical framework of the practice, turning a profound path of awareness into a commodity. Not that the Buddha would likely have minded. When psychologists use mindfulness to help their clients through stressful periods in their lives, I think the Buddha would have seen this as positive and beneficial.
What I have seen over the years is that people in the West who have struggled with anxiety or depression often seek help from psychologists who use Western-style mindfulness as a treatment tool. The client who benefits from it may then want to find out more about mindfulness. Only then do they discover that mindfulness, as a complete practice, is far more profound and beneficial than what Western psychology alone can offer.
The explanation in the video and the gradual approach to these eight practices can help ease the mind into a better frame of thinking:
Kaizen: Continuous improvement
Ikigai: Your reason for being
Hara Hachi Bu: Eat until you are 80% full
Shinrin Yoku: Spending time in nature
Wabi-Sabi: Acceptance of imperfection
Gaman: Enduring difficulty without complaining
Omoiyari: Sensing what someone needs before they ask
Kintsugi: Treating failures as part of your story and taking pride in them
Taken together, these practices offer a gentle and progressive way to cultivate mindfulness, resilience, and balance of mind. They may be a step in the right direction, even if they are not the whole path.
Thus have I heard, and experienced on more than one occasion: if left unattended, the mind can find fault with anything it turns its attention to.
Shoshin1
Food for thought
This post appeared on Facebook, in the "Walk For Peace community" Group. It's long, but worth a read.
I asked the Author, Ang Seng Chuan whence came the essay.
He replied -
"This is my original work. I used AI assistance to help refine the English expression, as I am educated in a Chinese-language system."
Enjoy. Discuss. 😊
Viewing the World with Objective Wisdom —
Differences and Complementarity in Eastern and Western Cultural Structures, and the Real Path Forward for a Shared Human Community
Humanity today stands at a critical historical crossroads. Technology has reached unprecedented levels, information moves at lightning speed, and civilizations are more interconnected than ever. Yet alongside this progress come war, fragmentation, environmental collapse, and deep collective anxiety. The root of these crises is not merely conflict over systems, resources, or ideologies, but the fact that humanity has lost the ability to see the world as it truly is. We no longer look with wisdom, but with positions; not with clarity, but with fear; not with a sense of the whole, but with opposition.
To “view the world with objective wisdom” does not mean denying values or beliefs. It means first setting aside emotion and prejudice, and honestly facing the structure of reality, its causes and conditions, and its interconnectedness. Objective wisdom is not a cold gaze, nor a judgment from above, but a clear-eyed awareness that sees both facts and consequences at the same time. Without such wisdom, the more intelligent humanity becomes, the greater its capacity for destruction.
At the level of cultural foundations, Eastern and Western civilizations represent two fundamental ways in which human beings understand and interpret the world.
Western culture, since ancient Greece, has been built upon a worldview that separates subject and object. The world is regarded as something that can be understood, analyzed, divided, controlled, and reshaped. Human beings are the subjects; nature is the object. Truth must be proven, and order must be constructed. From this emerged rigorous logic, scientific methodology, legal systems, and technological frameworks. This cultural structure has powerfully advanced material civilization, granting humanity unprecedented external capabilities.
Yet when this structure is pushed to extremes, its limitations become evident. Once the world is fully objectified, it is easily reduced to a tool; once nature is seen only as a resource, it is inevitably exploited; once others are reduced to labels, exclusion follows naturally. Efficiency, competition, and victory then overshadow restraint, coexistence, and boundaries. This is not a fault unique to the West, but the inevitable outcome of any single structure taken to excess.
The cultural structure of the East stands in contrast. Eastern traditions emphasize relationality and wholeness. The world is not a collection of isolated objects, but an interdependent network. Humans and heaven, humans and nature, humans and society are not fundamentally separate, but arise together through mutual conditions. Eastern thought does not rush to define truth, but seeks realization through lived experience; it does not prioritize conquering the external world, but focuses on stabilizing and clarifying the inner mind. Thus, concepts such as the Middle Way, harmony, responsiveness, non-coercion, and dependent origination form the underlying tone of Eastern civilization.
However, if Eastern culture remains solely at the level of inner reconciliation without institutional embodiment, it too risks becoming vague, evasive, or even permissive of injustice. Harmony without boundaries, and understanding without responsibility, can lead to the breakdown of order just as surely as domination can. The issue, therefore, has never been East versus West, but whether humanity can see—through objective wisdom—the blind spots inherent in each.
A truly mature human civilization cannot be one in which one side overwhelms the other. It must be a structural complementarity. Western analytical power requires Eastern holistic awareness as its counterbalance; Eastern wisdom of harmony requires Western institutional rationality to take form in the world. Rationality without awareness becomes cold and ruthless; awareness without rationality becomes empty discourse.
Seen through objective wisdom, one fact is now unavoidable: humanity has already formed a real and irreversible community of shared life. This is not a political slogan nor a moral appeal, but a reality grounded in ecology, technology, and causality. Climate change does not recognize borders; viruses do not respect ideologies; energy crises do not defer to cultural pride. Any imbalance in one part of the system ultimately returns to affect the whole.
The Earth does not belong to a single nation, a single civilization, or a single generation. It is the common foundation of human survival—an indivisible system. Walls may be built temporarily, but air, water, climate, and ecosystems cannot be confined by borders. In today’s world, there is no longer any space for responsibility that applies only to oneself.
Eastern wisdom has long taught: “All phenomena arise from causes and conditions, and all phenomena cease through causes and conditions.”
Western science now confirms that ecosystems are highly interdependent complex systems, where local damage inevitably triggers cascading effects.
This is the true meaning of a shared community of life—not emotional coercion, but shared causality and shared consequences.
Yet humanity still struggles to realize genuine coexistence, not because these facts are unknown, but because there is no bridge of wisdom between ideals and reality. The pursuit of ideals is not wrong; it is the driving force of civilization. But ideals without objective wisdom often become the source of disaster.
History repeatedly shows that when ideals ignore human nature, they turn extreme; when ideals disregard causality, they multiply suffering. Eastern traditions have long warned that haste leads to failure, while Western philosophy has consistently emphasized the need to restrain power. Yet humanity continues to repeat the same mistake—believing that good intentions guarantee good outcomes.
A truly mature ideal is not a passionate declaration, but a clear-eyed choice that accepts long-term consequences. An ideal unwilling to accept reality’s constraints is mere fantasy; an ideal unwilling to undergo self-reflection is mere projection.
Viewed with objective wisdom, humanity today does not lack principles, but restraint; does not lack knowledge, but wisdom; does not lack goodwill, but sustained self-examination. Eastern culture emphasizes self-cultivation, reminding us that all transformation begins with the human heart. Western culture emphasizes responsibility, reminding us that every action carries consequences. Without the integration of these two, human ideals can never take root in reality.
True coexistence, therefore, is not superficial peace, but the establishment of boundaries amid difference, responsibility within freedom, and limits within development. It does not require everyone to think the same, but it does require everyone to understand that their choices inevitably affect the whole.
Let this serve as the concluding teaching:
Objective wisdom does not stand outside the world to judge it, but stands within causality to understand it.
Eastern and Western cultures do not negate one another, but illuminate each other’s blind spots.
The shared human community is not an ideal blueprint, but an inescapable structural reality.
Coexistence on Earth is not a moral demand, but a condition of survival.
The human pursuit of ideals is not mistaken, yet only awareness, restraint, and responsibility can prevent ideals from becoming sources of harm.
Only when humanity awakens inwardly and takes responsibility outwardly,
respects difference while perceiving the whole,
can civilization truly move toward a stable and enduring future.
federica
Re: Eight Simple Zenish Habits
@RobinH said:
I'm not here to argue, but I find the thumbnail somewhat provocative, as if I'm supposed to believe that most Japanese people, on a cultural level are well aware of all these terms and their meanings and are consciously practicing such habits. I'd be surprised if they'd consider most of these a part of their national identity or heritage, even if to many they are, or for us outsiders it's what Japan is like. It's a bit like when Native Americans appear to be an endless source of wisdom, but the image is not necessarily accurate, even according to actual Native Americans. And that is all I meant, not that these practices are dumb or useless, but that they seem to be romanticized in relation to their origins.
Yeah, I get that perspective. People are people, its rather condescending when westerners fetishize and idealize other cultures. Native Americans did lots of conquering and other forms of wickedness by modern standards before westerners got here. They have plenty of cultural practices that we can learn from and look up to, but they aren't these super peaceful nature saints that they can be portrayed as.
Likewise these Japanese traditions I'm sure aren't perfectly practiced and represented by every, even most Japanese people. But they offer us a different perspective on how we can live that can act to temper and correct flaws and excesses of western culture.
person
Re: Eight Simple Zenish Habits
I'm not here to argue, but I find the thumbnail somewhat provocative, as if I'm supposed to believe that most Japanese people, on a cultural level are well aware of all these terms and their meanings and are consciously practicing such habits. I'd be surprised if they'd consider most of these a part of their national identity or heritage, even if to many they are, or for us outsiders it's what Japan is like. It's a bit like when Native Americans appear to be an endless source of wisdom, but the image is not necessarily accurate, even according to actual Native Americans. And that is all I meant, not that these practices are dumb or useless, but that they seem to be romanticized in relation to their origins.
RobinH
Re: Eight Simple Zenish Habits
I am skeptical about such, since some things are ingrained in one's own culture and cannot be simply "copied, replicated", yet so many self-help courses and books pop up, usually by westerners, about Ikigai or Wabi-Sabi (these two I've heard of before). Don't get me wrong, I don't mind people fetishizing such customs, because usually none of these are quite the solution to their problems, but they can ease people more into a direction, little-by-little, as sort of gateway experiences (once they overcome the disappointment that it didn't solve all their problems nor did they get enlightened through them). Zen Buddhism however is almost always conveyed through the same images, no matter where you are: everything strictly looks about the same, you could go to Africa and a Zen Buddhist's home would reflect a Japanese look. It's a bit like a master pointing to a flower and interpreting it in a way that the flower pointed at was somehow special compared to all those he didn't. Am I completely off about it?
Buddhism is a way of life, one that arises from a culture often foreign to the Western mind. Yet many of us in the West practise it and benefit deeply from it, some experience kenshō and take to it like ducks to water, while for others it can be difficult to grasp and may take a lifetime of practice to gain even a glimpse.
A healthy level of scepticism, from what I gather, is beneficial. But if doubtfulness is allowed to hold one back, reinforcing the sense of self, it can trap a person in a perpetual cycle of pessimism, which is not a healthy and balanced way to live one’s life.
I suppose what I am getting at is that genuine practice is not about copying cultural forms, but about cultivating understanding through experience. Practice shapes understanding, and understanding deepens practice.
From what I gather, one must cultivate a scepticism that sits between blind imitation and outright rejection. In other words, the Middle Way, with perhaps a touch of “fake it until you make it” thrown in for good measure.
Shoshin1
Re: What books are you reading?
@RobinH said:
It's very strict about some things, Hell for example is constantly brought up and it could be confusing to many who can only imagine it from a Christian point of view. I too struggle sometimes to decide how I should think of it in a Buddhist context, people who talk about failing to walk the path of the Dharma will result in you going to Hell still give me the creeps. It's hard to feel someone has your best interest in mind if they visualize extreme suffering for you and if they don't have my best interest in mind how are they to show me the way?
My adult response to any mention of Hell is that it is not realistic for such a place to exist, anywhere. I tend to view it as a manipulative way to compel adherence to a religion, and it tends to lead me to discard such beliefs.
Jeroen
Eight Simple Zenish Habits
- Kaizen: Continuous Improvement
- Ikigai: Your reason for being
- Hara Hachi Bu: Eat until your 80% full
- Shinrin Yoku: Being in Nature
- Wabi-Sabi: The acceptance of imperfection
- Gaman: The ability to go thru difficulty without complaining
- Omoiyari: Sensing what someone needs before they ask
- Kintsugi: Your failures are part of your story so be proud of them
🙏🙏🙏
Shoshin1