Where do thoughts come from? This last evening, I’ve been watching seemingly endless thoughts appearing in mind, anger and revenge mostly, as in the midst of a family crisis, my ex-wife decided to pitch in with the ‘blame game’. It’s funny this expression – pushing the buttons. The common expression is .. ‘she knows how […]
Where Do Thoughts Come From? Read Post »
Emaho! It is the single (nature of) mind which encompasses all of Samsara and Nirvana. Even though its inherent nature has existed from the very beginning, you have not recognized it; Even though its clarity and presence has been uninterrupted, you have not yet encountered its face. Even though its arising has nowhere been obstructed,
Since things neither exist nor don’t exist, are neither real nor unreal, are utterly beyond adopting and rejecting – one might as well burst out laughing. Longchenpa Rabjampa Tenzin Chodron’s post to the Kagyu Online Study Group reminded me of this wonderful quote from the 14th Century Nyingma master, Longchenpa Rabjampa. So often recently I’ve
Reflections on Longchenpa – The Middle Path Read Post »
Understanding the teachings on the illusory nature of the Subject Object distinction used to be rather theoretical for me. Yes, I heard the words, I understood the theory, and it made sense. But, when the chips were down, when suffering arrived, this understanding was nowhere to be seen. In recent years with the blessing of
Subject Object Projections Read Post »
Sometimes you are faced with decisions which seem to have massive consequences, whichever choice you take. Sometimes that choice seems to lead to very mixed results, whichever choice you take. How can you see which choice to take? Life is so surprising in how it plays out. It’s so hard to ‘guess’ the future, to
I was sitting watching my son, who was watching a kids news program on TV. The program was showing the refugee camps in the Sudan. The refugees were mostly children, and many had lost their parents who had been slaughtered by militia. The fortunate ones lived in a tent, without possessions. Those less fortunate had
Mahamudra is traditionally said to be difficult to realise due to Four Faults. The nature of our mind is right here, right now for us to recognise, but somehow we may not manage that. The Four Faults are: It’s Too Easy We may have an idea that seeing the nature of our mind must be
Mahamudra Is Too Easy, Close, Good, Deep Read Post »
I used to imagine that the Buddha was so very far away. Enlightenment was so inconceivably difficult to attain, and the path there so very long. With my swirling emotions and obscurations, how long the journey seemed, and how very hard I had to strive in order to reach the state of perfect Awakening. When
Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, Nirmanakaya Read Post »
Things appear to change. Things appear to go through phases. I say ‘appear to’ as I’m not at all sure that they do. They appear to, but do they really? How do we know? We have memory of what was. How do we know how accurate our memory is of what was? Accessing a memory
Taking Mahamudra as the Path Read Post »
Yesterday in a place of worship ‘belonging’ to a different religion to my own, I noticed so many things about the nature of things, and the nature of those who wish to embrace and understand how things are. So many reflections came up, shedding light on my own practice and tradition, viewed as a result
