I came across this today, an excerpt from Karen Armstrong’s upcoming book – The Case for God. It was such a beautiful piece of writing about the extraordinariness of One who is Awake that I thought I’d reproduce it here: From almost the very beginning, men and women have repeatedly engaged in strenuous and committed […]
I began this post a couple of months ago and wasn’t able to finish it. I thought I’d just publish what was there, as the teaching from Khakhyab Dorje is extraordinarily rich … Last night I dreamt of the 15th Karmapa, Khakhyab Dorje, so thought sharing ‘Melody of Buzzing Bees’ would be auspicious. Just a
Reflection on Khakhyab Dorje – Melody of Buzzing Bees Read Post »
I was reflecting on covetousness, and the whole area of craving this morning. I was in particular wondering why my mind tends to focus in a particular way in relation to this. In a sense, it has a choice. It can either focus on what it has already got, or on what it is lacking
Covetousness – Craving 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 »
When it really gets down to it, how much of our activity is quite simply ‘useless’? I don’t mean that it has no use at all on a mundane level, but that it is so conditioned, so led by instinct or habit, so unconscious or below awareness or choice, or simply so trivial, superficial and
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 »
In response to a further question, asking Which qualities of mind do not pertain to Buddha Nature – is not everything an expression of mind, and primordial wisdom? I think I can see why you say this, and feel this way. In one sense it is so … all that appears to arise has the
Qualities of Mind – Buddha Nature Read Post »
In response to a scenario on a List, where a person was confused as to how it is said that mind has no qualities, and yet it is said to have compassion, fearlessness, in-destruction etc. There are a couple of layers in response to this. As a Shentongpa, I cannot help responding from a Kagyu
Qualities of Mind – Shentong and Rangtong Read Post »
Hi, is Zen considered a Vajrayana ‘way’? I would say that it isn’t when considered by the most important criteria. If the major factor which distinguishes the Vajrayana from Mahayana and Hinayana is the fact that it uses the result as the path, whereas the other two yanas use the cause as the path, then
