How dreamlike is this life …. Bringing experiences to mind from the past – they are like shimmering dreams, with a life of their own, never quite the same, and seemingly not like the experience in the present which seemed to inspire them. And that experience in the present, which had previously seemed so solid […]
Clarity and Emptiness Read Post »
Where do thoughts come from? This last evening, I’ve been watching seemingly endless thoughts appearing in mind, anger and revenge mostly, as in the midst of a family crisis, my ex-wife decided to pitch in with the ‘blame game’. It’s funny this expression – pushing the buttons. The common expression is .. ‘she knows how
Where Do Thoughts Come From? Read Post »
Since things neither exist nor don’t exist, are neither real nor unreal, are utterly beyond adopting and rejecting – one might as well burst out laughing. Longchenpa Rabjampa Tenzin Chodron’s post to the Kagyu Online Study Group reminded me of this wonderful quote from the 14th Century Nyingma master, Longchenpa Rabjampa. So often recently I’ve
Reflections on Longchenpa – The Middle Path Read Post »
Sometimes you are faced with decisions which seem to have massive consequences, whichever choice you take. Sometimes that choice seems to lead to very mixed results, whichever choice you take. How can you see which choice to take? Life is so surprising in how it plays out. It’s so hard to ‘guess’ the future, to
Don’t do anything whatsoever with the mind — Abide in an authentic, natural state. One’s own mind, unwavering, is reality. The key is to meditate like this without wavering; Experience the Great [reality] beyond extremes. In a pellucid ocean, Bubbles arise and dissolve again. Just so, thoughts are no different from ultimate reality. So don’t
Niguma: Mahamudra as Spontaneous Liberation Read Post »
Sometimes you make choices in life which seem as though they are going to have huge consequences. Sometimes it seems as though they are going to define the parameters of what will be possible and what will be for many years to come. From a conventional point of view, it seems obvious that if you
Where Does It Lead? Read Post »
It’s funny how mind works when it is filled with the fullness of vision of Vajrayana. Right out the window of my office where I work are some flags advertising a car showroom. The flags flutter madly in the winds, often against blue skies and racing clouds. How similarly shaped are these flags to a
Renault Prayer Flags 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
I have been thinking a lot this last few days about how pretty much any statement you make about approaches to Dharma can be contradicted. I was reflecting on Al’s post the other day: Seated meditation is the arena in which the meditator practices his own fundamental skills. The game the meditator is playing is
Never Absolutely So … Read Post »
