I was sitting next to our bath last night, with my toddler playing with his bubbles. And I was reflecting that for many years, when I first came to practice, and first had children, I used to feel very strongly that my goal in life, the goal of spiritual life, was ‘somewhere else’, ‘something else’, […]
Is This All There Is? Read Post »
What an odd tendency I have! When I’m driving I invariably catch myself, every 10 minutes or so, looking what another driver is doing, and thinking in my mind “that’s not right, don’t do that, do it like I do”! Whether it’s turning without indicating, driving inches behind the car in front of them, hogging
Hi all – I’ve just got back from an enforced trip to the other side of the world, and am happy to receive so many kind messages regarding my absence, and happy to be back posting 🙂 Just a short reflection – I necessarily had to spend a couple of weeks in an environment where
When you are born you cry, but the whole world is overjoyed. When you die the whole world cries, but you may find the great liberation. Bardo ThodolKarma Lingpa
The other day something quite illuminating happened. I walked into a store, and saw in a distance the headline on a newspaper – “man stabbed by fork” on a local newspaper. Immediately in my mind, the following thoughts popped up …. “ah … local newspapers … always full of trivial news … like cats stuck
Where does the unsatisfactoriness of life come from? How is it that we experience pain or sorrow, frustration or unhappiness? What is the cause of experience of life as being imperfect? It’s all just a matter of perspective! The experience of Samsara Misunderstanding the nature of things we experience suffering. This is the experience of
Samsara and Nirvana Read Post »
One of the nice things about being ill is that the circumstances of your life are rather different from ‘normal’, and as a result, it gives you a different vantage point from which to view how things are. Instead of the usual routine, you are forced into a different one, one which may well disrupt
To use Chogyam Trungpa’s phrase – all situations are workable. After reading part of a teaching by Trungpa Rinpoche on a forum today, I’ve been thinking about how easy it is to label situations as either easy or difficult from the point of view of practice. And, beyond that, how easy to label certain situations
All Situations Are Workable Read Post »
Looking at a situation with a group of people, what do you see? Suffering However you look, you see either immediate suffering, the suffering that comes from the nature of change and therefore loss of present happiness, or existential suffering – the suffering that comes simply through being embodied. Looking at beings, you see beings
Suffering, Compassion and Meeting Needs Read Post »
Outside of meditation, reflecting now, 2 days later … did those thoughts arise at all? Where are they? … Are they any different in nature from the dream I had last night? Where has that gone? They both had a sense of ‘realness’ at the time, but what substance remains of either? Both resonate, and
