Category: buddhism

Keep Your Eyes on God

On the spiritual path there are many obstacles diverting us off towards pleasure, money, or fame

Each time our eyes divert from God we must return them

If we can keep our eyes on our family, friends, coworkers, jobs, bank account, shopping, food, or pets we will be diverted off the path towards God.

We will be lost and afraid in the woods

Not knowing which way to go and suffer tremendously

It takes tremendous conviction to keep going on this path

But the rewards of inner peace, serenity and complete liberation are more precious than diamonds

The path towards God is liberation from all greed, hatred and fear

God brings many the gift of unconditional love which liberates us from all self-centeredness and fear

If we keep our eyes on God we have nothing to fear and our days will be filled more and more with love, joy, and inner peace

With love,

Johnny Hoffman

Compassion for All Beings

May all beings feel love

May all beings feel liberated

May all beings be at peace

Their lives are miracles of the cosmos

I vow to reduce suffering in the world

I will not support any violence in the world

In my words or actions

Transforming Hell on Earth

Some believe that hell exists in the afterlife for those who do harm on earth

But in reality, hell is on this earth

Hell is in Gaza

Hell is in Ukraine

I have felt hells heat on Earth

I have lived in hell with my ex fiance

All the lies and self hatred

I have experienced hell in every casino

The burning flames of regret, fear, and self hatred

Hell is on the earth

It’s behind every war and suicide

But the Kingdom of God is on Earth as well

In every happy baby’s smile

In every act of unconditional love

God’s infinite source of love can heal all wounds

This source of love is all around us yet we are too blind to see it

We can bring Jesus’s message of pure love, compassion and forgiveness into hell on earth and transform hell into peace and joy

More hatred, violence and fear will make hells flames even stronger

Only God’s infinite source of love can liberate us from the shackles of hell on Earth

With love,

Johnny

Transforming Suffering into Joy

Some naively want to live in a world with no suffering

Only pure bliss

This is understandable but a dangerous idea

For without suffering there is no compassion

And with no compassion there is no true joy

Suffering and joy are two sides of the same coin

We don’t need to fear suffering

We can transform it into pure joy

When we embrace our suffering with pure compassion we can transform it into true joy

We must take Jesus’s message internally for this transformation to truly happen

Through mindfulness and compassion we can embrace the most hurt parts of ourselves with loving tenderness

We must accept that suffering is a natural part of life

But we don’t need to dwell in it and suffer unnecessarily

We can transform suffering into pure joy

By living like Jesus or the Buddha we can transform the darkness into light

Many look for miracles yet nothing is as profound as the healing nature of unconditional love

With love,

Johnny

The Awakening of the Buddha

The awakening of the Buddha was that he saw Buddha nature in everything

In Buddhist philosophy, Buddha-nature is the potential for all sentient beings to become a Buddha or the fact that all beings already have a pure buddha-essence within.

So the Buddha awakened to the ultimate reality of the universe

That every being is born with and has Buddha nature

Even if they are deeply lost in fear, greed, and hatred

Even if someone is violent

Even criminals, beggars, and addicts

All have the essence of Buddha nature

All are holy and are in the image of God

With this awakening we can help heal this world of much suffering

We can see every being as holy and our brother or sister

We can vow to reduce their suffering and look at them through the lens of compassion

With aloha,

Johnny

Nirvana

We may celebrate our birthday as the day we were born but that’s not entirely true.

We came into this world at the creation of this universe

The matter in our body originated in that one eventful moment

Everything and everyone came from the same source

Whoever is reading this is my brother or sister

We even have non-human ancestors connecting us to other animals

So we truly are like stars dancing in the night sky

But through confusion, distracted and addiction we lose sight of our inner Buddha nature

To feel the oneness of everything emotionally is to feel Nirvana

It is our birthright to discover this ultimate reality

But we must learn to get our mind still through deep meditation

Anyone can become enlightened through their actions if they are dedicated to the middle path

With Aloha,

Johnny

The Ultimate Reality

What a blessing it is to be alive!!

You might know me as Johnny Hoffman, as some separate person but I am much more than that.

Look deeper and you will see the ultimate reality of me.

I am my ancestors

I am the soil

I am a cloud

I am the sun

For without these I would not exist

So whenever you feel lost or alone just know you are not separate from the universe.

You and I are made up of our ancestors, stars, soil, clouds, and rivers. Without them we would not exist. This is the ultimate reality of things.

You are my brother or sister

To feel this at a deep level is to awaken to our Buddha nature and help others who still suffer

So when someone looks at a cloud 100 years from now they may see me again 🙏🏼☁️

With aloha,

Johnny

Returning to our Buddha Nature

The baby sees life through the lens of love

They see everything as a miracle

Curious about everything and everyone

They touch the divine each day without resistance

They touch the deepest reality

Greed, hatred and fear haven’t harmed them yet

Their mind practices non discrimination

They have their Buddha nature intact

So for us to enter the Kingdom of God

For us to experience Nirvana

We must return to our original mind

The original mind is the infinitely compassionate mind

This original mind can touch reality deeply

Forgive instantly & love unconditionally

It can experience true joy out of the ordinary

But for us to preserve the original compassionate mind, we need a higher Self to guide the inner child and protect it from the greed, hatred and fear in the world

So we need someone like Jesus to preserve our Buddha nature

Our original mind is the mind of Jesus

The mind of a Buddha

My life’s purpose is to “Live Buddha, live Christ”.

With Aloha,

Johnny

Walking Away Peacefully in the Night

Alcohol scarred my childhood

I have lost close friends to it

Alcohol has slowly consumed many of my family and friends

I even had close calls with alcohol overdose in my university years

Yet I will not judge or hate alcohol

I knew 7 years ago that one day I would walk away from alcohol and the destruction it cases

Today I will choose to walk away peacefully in the night

With aloha

Johnny

Liberation from Fear, Hatred, and Greed

The Buddha and Jesus lived a message of love, compassion and forgiveness. Their message was a way out of unnecessary suffering caused by the egos destructive nature. The ego is run by fear, hatred, and greed. I imagine the ego has a group of hurt, lonely, angry, sensitive, and greedy children inside our inner family. Those with strong addictions have hurt children running the show but most of society is being ran by parentified children frozen in trauma. Some become narcissistic, some cold emotionless, and some develop addictions but they are all responses to trauma. Jesus and the Buddha taught a way out of the ego and into the inner Self that heals all these wounded children. It forgives them, loves them, and holds them tenderly like a mother to a crying infant. We first must surrender to the battle in our mind. This is the first major step in our transformation. We admit we are powerless and need help from others. The ego wants to do life on its own, never wanting help from others out of fear and arrogance. We think we are Gods until we surrender fully to our suffering. We need a higher power to help guide us now because we realize the ego always takes us to complete destruction and suffering. Our will never leads to happiness, we need something bigger than ourselves to believe in. You don’t have to call it God, you can call it mother nature, the Universe, etc. It doesn’t matter what we call the mysterious force that created me and keeps the universe together but we have to be grateful for it. This is key to our transformation and resurrection into a more kind peaceful joyful person. Keep surrendering each day and the God of your understanding will fill you up with pure joy, you won’t need drugs, casual sex or consumption to fill the hole inside you anymore. This world needs more of us to wake up to our unnecessary suffering and delusional thinking that we are an all knowing God. Pleasure seeking isn’t the way towards true happiness. Practicing self love, compassion and forgiveness is the way. Shine that light into the darkness of your soul. The darkness of hatred, greed and fear.

With aloha,

Johnny