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 »
How tempting it is for the mind to grasp onto what is directly perceived, and to ossify it into necessarily rigid and falsifying concepts. The raft of skilful use of conceptual understanding is a tricky one to ride, and one which seems to hold much potential for misuse. The Buddha described the Dharma as being
Yesterday I started to catch a cold. My mind was very cloudy indeed, and I felt like I was floating in a cloud. It was really hard to focus on anything and retain that focus as I tended to drift off into blankness. Mentally, it was real hard to apply myself to work, and thoughts
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 »
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 »
Somebody sent me this wonderful list of Mindfulness reminders for Parents – unfortunately, I don’t know where this list originated from …. 1. Take time to practise mindfulness around your children to help them grow up feeling noticed, heard, and understood. 2. Wake up to the abundance of special moments in the most ordinary of
Parenting Mindfully Reminders Read Post »
Mahamudra meditation instruction is often presented in terms of two-fold advice – the common, and the uncommon. These could be said to be the general and the detailed or specific instructions. The common or general instructions seem intended to be the base or background upon which all the uncommon or detailed instructions build. For me
Reflections on Tilopa – Mahamudra Pith Instructions 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 »
Hi, since my reply to you I’ve thought of something else that might be useful to add. A lot of people seem to experience things as getting more difficult once they start out on the spiritual path. It seems as though they are more surrounded my difficult people, that their mental states are getting worse,
Wicked People and Buddhist View – More Suffering? Read Post »
As I’m substantially in agreement with you, with only differing emphasis (due to perhaps wishing to emphasise a different aspect of view and method), then I’ll only briefly comment on a couple of points ….. So my point here was that in fact there is not much difference between saying specifically “my body” or generally
Mantras, Relative and Ultimate Truth – Emptiness of Forms Read Post »
