Talks about how Buddhism has been brought into the life of ordinary people, through yoga, etc.
Along with the reading in The Diamond Sutra & The Sutra of Hui-Neng I ran into some articles having to do with stress and the role of Zen Buddhism in dealing with stress. In the Sutra I found in compelling about finding a balance between the good in our mind and outward activities. Also in connection with that realizing that all the things that are around us and even our thoughts in our mind are impermanent and should be seen as void.
I think the idea of impermanent is critical in helping to reduce stress in the modern society. I think that most people get so hung up on day to day activites that they forget to concentrate on what is truly important. I think that people hold on to the materialistic things so much and if they were able to let go and realize that these things did not matter that they would be much freer, and if Buddhist would react enlightenment more easily.
Some examples of this are work-o-holic, people that obsess over relationships, and their bodies. Through Buddhism I've learned that work, our bodies, and relationships are only means by which to get me through life, not life itself.
It also seems important for Buddhist to have a sense of their emotions, so they feel them deeply and then are able to detach from them. Maintaining a clear sense of our feelings and sensations, we can open out the gap between feeling and craving. This experience strengthens our intuition of how things are and a series of ever more intensely positive mental states therefore follow. This allows for people to become more easily enlightened because they are not disillusioned by impermepance...