I’ve been reflecting back quite a bit recently about my journey, and how I’ve taken many approaches at different times – I believe because they’ve each been appropriate at the time. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a ‘one size fits all’ type attitude when it comes to whatever this strange thing that we […]
A Dzogchen Guide to Buddhist Yanas Read Post »
For so many years this was my path. Step by step letting go of each mental factor, until cessation. Then what was this deathlessness I rested in? 1] Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Savatthi in Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s Park. There he addressed the bhikkhus thus: “Bhikkhus.” –
One By One as They Occurred – Anupada Sutta MN#111 Read Post »
I came across this today, an excerpt from Karen Armstrong’s upcoming book – The Case for God. It was such a beautiful piece of writing about the extraordinariness of One who is Awake that I thought I’d reproduce it here: From almost the very beginning, men and women have repeatedly engaged in strenuous and committed
From a post to a Dharma List: Is desire the same as attachment? Most translations of Buddhist terms will use craving or attachment interchangeably. They both are used for when we take an object and exaggerate the positive qualities of that object, and as a result, we feel a neurotic desire to have or possess
Use the Blade to Cut the Blade Read Post »
I was sitting in meditation yesterday on my bench in the garden. A light wind stirred the tree above me, and cherry blossoms gently floated down all around me. I was reminded of the Buddha, on the night of his Enlightenment, turning the arrows and weapons of Mara into flower petals. How poignant ….. How
Blossoms on the Buddha Read Post »
In the ‘Jewel Ornament of Liberation’, Gampopa (as do other teachers of orthodox Dharma) asserts that there are three types of suffering, which are: 1 – the suffering of suffering2 – the suffering of change3 – all-pervasive suffering The suffering of suffering In brief, the suffering of suffering is simply the stuff that really hurts,
The Three Types of Suffering Read Post »
I thought I’d post on the nature of mantras and how they work, as I’ve recently responded to a question asking this on a Dharma list …. Firstly though, I’d like to say that I wholeheartedly agree with the suggestions already made that the way to truly find out what mantras are and how they
The Eight Worldly Winds keep on blowing ….. One moment I am sitting at work, having just heard the news that Anwar, the former deputy prime minister of Malaysia had just had his conviction overturned and had been freed from jail. (He’d been sent to jail in one of the most dubious and obviously politically
The Winds Keep On Blowing Read Post »
