Today I’m practicing Sojong – the practicing for purifying and restoring broken vows. I’m joining many of the ‘Vision Group’ in Singapore, supporters of my Guru, Shangpa Rinpoche , who have been regularly practicing Sojong on significant days of the lunar calendar. The practice was supposed to have been instituted among the general population by […]
The Seven Steps of Practicing Sojong Read Post »
Yesterday morning as I was driving along a cat suddenly shot out from the woods and into the path of my car. In an instant my rear wheel hit the cat. In my rear mirror I could see it jumping around on the road, obviously in pain. The poor thing … what would I give
Suffering and Karma Read Post »
I was reflecting this morning on how much devotion images of the deity Prajnaparamita bring forth from me. Given that she is the deity who represents Wisdom, rather than Love, Compassion, Patience and so on …. how interesting that she inspires so much devotion in me. Pretty much every image I’ve ever seen of her
Devotion to Prajnaparamita Read Post »
I came across this the other day .. what a delight! Taking everything onto the path … nothing is outside of the path, nothing is essentially problematic …. all is the path, all is mind, all is same taste …. Namo Ratna Guru ! When thoughts that there is something perceived and a perceiverLure my
Gotsampa – Seven Delights: A Song About Taking Difficult Circumstances to the Path Read Post »
Space is designated as empty, Yet its exact nature cannot be verbalized. Similarly the mind is designated as luminously clear, Yet its exact nature is empty, with no ground for definition. Thus the self-nature of mind is and has been From the very beginning like that of space. Saraha … and how blessed I am
Reflections on Saraha, originator of Mahamudra Read Post »
How often it’s stuck me over the years that I am ultimately blessed to have received the teachings on Chod from Shangpa Rinpoche! So often I’m at a particular place in my sadhana, and gratitude and joy flood through my mind, realising what an extraordinary thing this is, this Chod of Mahamudra practice. So often
Shangpa Rinpoche’s teachings on Chod 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 »
Appearance is mind and emptiness is mind. Realisation is mind and confusion is mind. Arising is mind and cessation is mind. May all doubts about mind be resolved. from The Aspiration Prayer of Mahamudra3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje How radically different this view is to how my mind often gravitates …. into seeing solid appearances ‘out
Reflections on All is Mind, from the Aspiration Prayer of Mahamudra Read Post »
I remember very clearly my new boss at a company telling me (upon my finding out that he was a Buddhist and asking him what practices he does), that he doesn’t practice, that he’s taking a ‘holiday’ in this life, and that he’ll practice in the next life. It struck me at the time that
