We experience endlessly, and on top of the flow of seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting, and thinking we project and add a fictional ‘experiencer’, a one, a self who is doing this experiencing. And yet, there isn’t anyone there to do this. so who or what is experiencing the experiences? ….. the experience itself is […]
The Experience is the Experiencer Read Post »
One thing which has come to me over and over again in recent days is the profound ‘is-ness’ of things. By this, I don’t mean the ‘suchness’, to use Buddhist terminology. What I mean is that when I look at a leaf, it is extraordinary how ‘leafy’ it is …. the texture ripples with extraordinary
The ‘Is-ness’ of Things Read Post »
I was re-reading one of my favourite blogs this morning – Willow’s ‘Life as a Dervish‘ (blog no longer available). Her blog resonates really strongly, I guess because I’ve also lived abroad for many years in a totally different culture from the one that I was born into. And for me, that experience was just
My Identity is Portable Read Post »
The last few days (whilst ill) I’ve been reflecting on how painful it is watching other people suffer. And how hard it is to help them to see the causes of their suffering. So often when we suffer we can see what is going on, where the attachment is, where the resistance to how things
The Compassion Gap Read Post »
I will wait. Waiting in the face of the unpleasant, the difficult, the challenging. Waiting in the face of uncertainty, confusion and disorientation. Patience – bearing with that which is hard to bear. Allowing things to be, however they are. Not trying to grasp it and force it to be other. Allowing a young plant
Driving in my car, with Aram Khachaturian’s ‘Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia’ playing on the radio. Just as the music swelled into the almost orgasmic crescendo, I rounded the bend in the road, and in a moment the dark clouds separated, great shafts of golden sunlight pierced the sky, and a tremendous effulgence engulfed one
Spartacus, Sunshine and Epiphany Read Post »
After a particularly strong meditation experience this weekend, I was reflecting on one aspect of Zen and Tibetan Buddhism. In meditation, my sense of all dharmas being Empty was clearer than is often the case. There was nothing I could latch onto, nothing that I could hold in my mind which didn’t melt away as
Big Doubt and Groundlessness Read Post »
In response to: What would Buddha actually do in case, He was in my shoes? In case Buddha was in my shoes, He would look like a common person, totally “normal”. One couldn’t realize Him from the outside as being an Awakened One. One thing that springs to mind here is dependent origination. Beings or
What Would a Buddha Do? Read Post »
Response to a question on a List: How do you access your mind. Thoughts are like waves and the mind is like the ocean. How do you access the ocean? Looking at your question, I will respond in three parts: – How do you access your mind? – Thoughts are like waves and the mind
The Ocean and Waves of Mind Read Post »
About a month ago I switched to always meditating with my eyes open, after pretty much always meditating with my eyes shut for the last 16 years. In the past I’d tried to switch, but found my ability to concentrate greatly impaired, so had reverted to keeping them shut. However, it has been 3 years
