In reply to a question from her son, Gangpa Muksang, as to what is the meaning of ‘devil’ Machig Labdron replied: That which is called devil is not some actual great big black thing that scares and petrifies whomever sees it. A devil is anything that obstructs the achievement of freedom. … Most of all, […]
Reflections on Machig Labdron – The Material Devil Read Post »
It’s interesting how the death of those close to us leads to something of a Bardo in consciousness – a space where so much which seems to flow on automatic stops – a place where we are afforded a vantage point from which to view what is, one that is so advantageous to us as
Impermanence and Death Read Post »
In a world where all is borrowed,and time like elusive dust seems tojust slip through our fingers, all we really have are these precious momentswhere we can make fertile the soilin the garden of our hearts,that here love may make its homeand here the mortal seed may flourish. Only love can free us from the
Impermanence – Azam Ali – Where all is Borrowed Read Post »
Having just had my first real positive breakthrough with my slipped disc, after 7 years of pain, I was reflecting on what different views it is possible to form on the myriad shifting conditions of ones life, and how differently those views must then impact on your life. I’ve just had a successful course of
Half Empty or Half Full Cup? Read Post »
Reflecting on how easy it is to get swept up in wanting and not-wanting, based on misunderstanding the impermanent and not-self nature of all things, the activities of this life, and the apparent pleasures that arise in it are seductive and yet illusory. How true it is that that which we grasp after slips like
Wordly Things are Pitiful – Milarepa Read Post »
When it really gets down to it, how much of our activity is quite simply ‘useless’? I don’t mean that it has no use at all on a mundane level, but that it is so conditioned, so led by instinct or habit, so unconscious or below awareness or choice, or simply so trivial, superficial and
At the age of fourty-one, Machig Labdron stayed in a retreat cave in Chipug which was blessed for practice. On the fourth day of the last month of spring, in the middle of the night, the majestic Lady Tara appeared, surrounded by numerous dakinis. She bestowed on Machig the four initiations of the five primordial
Tara and Machig Labdron Read Post »
May the lives of ailing sentient beings be extended and made meaningful.May those who are suffering from hunger or thirst obtain sustenance,Those who are afflicted by external fears become fearless,And everything that beings desire be granted exactly as they wish.May all sentient beings do good and swiftly attain enlightenment.May those in power rule with justice,Governments
Prayer of Compassion following London Bombing 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
