groundless – Luminous Emptiness

Cintamani - the wish fulfilling jewel of Bodhicitta

The Great Potency of Bodhicitta – Dzogchen Semde Tantra

19/12/2024 | Leave a Comment

All and everything emanates from me,so all and everything, whatever appears,is revealed as transmission,revelation of timelessly pure basic spaciousness. Excerpt from The Great Potency of Bodhicitta A quick excursion of context here before sharing the teaching and reflections! The Great Potency of Bodhicitta is a seminal Dzogchen text categorized under the Semde (Mind Series), one […]

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Dzogchen

Self-Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness – Verse 10 – Karma Lingpa / Padmasambhava

16/08/2024 | Leave a Comment

These verses from Self-Liberation: Through Seeing with Naked Awareness are as if directly spoken face to face with me by Karma Lingpa. How potent! Mind’s nature is empty It is certain that the nature of the mind is empty and without any foundation whatsoever. Your own mind is insubstantial like the empty sky. You should

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Dzogchen

Mind Itself Is A Vast Expanse, The Realm Of Unchanging Space

31/07/2024 | Leave a Comment

Mind itself is a vast expanse, the realm of unchanging space. Its indeterminate display is the expanse of the magical expression of its responsiveness. Everything is the adornment of basic space and nothing else. Outwardly and inwardly, things proliferating and resolving are the dynamic energy of awakened mind. Because this is nothing whatsoever yet arises

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15th Karmapa, Khakhyab Dorje - Melody of Buzzing Bees

Mahamudra

Reflection on Khakhyab Dorje – Melody of Buzzing Bees

17/11/2009 | 2 Comments

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

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Shunryu Suzuki and his teaching Nothing Special

Zen

Nothing Special – Shunryu Suzuki

07/03/2009 | 7 Comments

I love this quote by Shunryu Suzuki. It’s not about having special experience. No experience will ‘save you’ or give you eternal happiness. You cannot take refuge in particular experiences, however uplifting or extraordinary. Not satori, not insight, not enlightenment, not getting there. Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual

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Zen

Reflections on Niutou Farong – Song of Mind (Xin Ming)

15/02/2009 | 5 Comments

Some drowsy reflections on Niutou Farong’s Song of Mind (Xin Ming) when unable to sleep whilst ill … The nature of the mind is non-arising,What need is there of knowledge and views?Originally there is not a single dharma;Why discuss inspiration and training? Niutou Farong begins with the view, a view which includes the need to

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Mahamudra

Niguma’s Vajra Verses of Self-Liberating Mahamudra

18/11/2008 | 2 Comments

Niguma invites us to embrace the nature of mind, cut through illusions, and directly realize liberation with her Vajra Verses of Self-Liberating Mahamudra. The wisdom dakini known as Nigupta, illustrious Narotapa’s sister, was a self-manifest yogini, a powerful lord bodhisattva on awakening’s tenth stage, who received direct instruction from Conqueror Vajra Bearer. She sang these

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Mahamudra

Reflections on Maitripa – Essential Mahamudra Verses

09/07/2008 | Leave a Comment

To innermost bliss, I pay homage! Were I to explain Mahamudra, I would say—All phenomena? Your own mind!If you look outside for meaning, you’ll get confused.Phenomena are like a dream, empty of true nature,And mind is merely the flux of awareness,No self nature: just energy flow.No true nature: just like the sky.All phenomena are alike,

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General Buddhism

Faith and Emptiness

25/05/2005 | 1 Comment

It seems that for many people the word ‘Faith’ is problematic. Formany people, the reason why is become of the negative connotationsthat they have with that term. For some, that is based on badexperiences they had with previous religious affiliations, or contactwith those of other religions. For some, it is because they wish thisreligion of

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Shadows And Dust painting by Alexander Millar

Mahamudra

Sick and Well

12/11/2004 | 5 Comments

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

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Thanks Cosette. I'm happy to hear you found a statue of White Tara. The deities feel like different coloured reflections…

This post is beautiful; thank you for sharing. I understand your observation about the scarcity of images of Prajnaparamita. I,…

Thanks for this. I see this as pointing to two things: 1 - Recognising the nature of your mind -…

Thanks Ali, much appreciated. I've used a number of things to help with slipping back into the contraction of conceptual…

Well explained. I found that it is quite challanging to maintain recognition of rigpa because we are easily caught up…