Samskara in Eastern philosophy refers to psychological imprints left in the subconscious by our daily experiences—whether conscious or unconscious, internal or external, desirable or undesirable.  These imprints are not merely passive vestiges of our actions and intentions, but dynamic forces in our psyche

I-thought is another name for the Ego. The ego functions as the knot (granthi) between the Self, which is Pure Consciousness (chit) & the physical body which is insentient (jaḍa).

One key practice for awakening is training the direction of your attention so that it can focus on one thing at a time. Our minds are usually distracted and we typically have trouble focusing on one thought stream at a time. The following exercises will allow one to focus their mind on one object at a time.

Phenomenology is the study of the structure of experience and consciousness from the first person perspective. The primary objective of phenomenology is the direct investigation and description of phenomena as directly experienced, without theories about their causal explanations.

Because of the evolutionary pressures acting on the mind, our minds are exquisitely adapted to not be in a state of stasis. From an evolutionary perspective, stasis means death of the species. This means that our minds are adapted to react and change constantly to various stimuli from the outside world. This means any experience gets boring after a while.

It is important to realize that the ego cannot be completely destroyed because the end product of this description is death of the individual. You require a properly functioning ego for your survival.

Another thing that we must discover for ourselves is that our ordinary consciousness is not Awareness. It is true that Awareness is the ground of being, and our experience of the world is a projection of awareness, but it is a folly to assume that our ordinary consciousness/Ego is actually this primordial consciousness or Awareness.

Awareness cannot be found in the contents of our experience because Awareness is not an object. Awareness is the subject from which all experiences arise.

Your everyday life is your practice and it is nothing special. The impermanent is suffused with the transcendent and co-exist with year other. There is no where to go and nothing to get.

Broadly the 3 main networks in the brain can be categorized as the following:

1- Default Mode Network (DMN): Responsible for self-referential thoughts & autobiographical information ie mental chatter.

2-Central Executive Network (CEN)- Higher order attentional control and working memory

3- Salience Network (SN): Responsible for switching between DMN and CEN networks. The SN allows interfaces with external stimuli and monitors internal events in the brain.

The term default mode network (DMN) was coined by Marcus Raichel. The DMN is primarily focused on the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and angular gyrus. The DMN is best known for being active when a person is not focused on the outside world, and the brain is at rest, such as during mind-wandering and daydreaming.

One important realization that I have had from photographing impermanence for about two months daily is that things change constantly but unless I paid careful attention it did not register in my consciousness.

We are dissatisfied because we refuse to change with the flow of life. The fact of our existence is that things change, we cannot control our circumstances, and despite our best efforts to keep things from changing, the reality is that nothing is ever constant.

This holiday season, as I was reading a book by BJ Fogg, I realized that a good way for someone to build a regular meditation practice was to take small tiny steps. One of the central tenets of the book was that motivation is often an unreliable indicator on how effectively we can make behavioral changes.

One question that comes up frequently in my discussions with my friends is what exactly does it mean when Zen teachers tell you to take the backward step?

One question that I frequently get asked is, “If Buddha nature/Awareness, is within me why can’t I recognize it?”

Simply said, what dependent origination means, is that all phenomena are dependent on factors. Phenomena are sustained only so long as their sustaining factors remain.

In the Mahabharata, a Hindu epic, there is a fascinating dialogue between a Yaksha (Demi-God), and the eldest of the Pandava brothers, Yudhisthir. Yudhisthir was the son of the Yama, the God of Death, and was known for his wisdom and truthfulness.

I believe that there are a few good indicators to determine the difference between a genuine awakening versus another mental state or construct.