Reflecting on how easy it is to get swept up in wanting and not-wanting, based on misunderstanding the impermanent and not-self nature of all things, the activities of this life, and the apparent pleasures that arise in it are seductive and yet illusory. How true it is that that which we grasp after slips like […]
Wordly Things are Pitiful – Milarepa Read Post »
There is this profound play between application of effort, and letting go. Sometimes, and in some ways, one has to galvanise ones energy, enlist ones desire, focus aspiration, and strive for the goal. Whether that is in terms of life overall, or a particular moment within it, there is the need to make an effort.
Effort and Letting Go Read Post »
Hi all – I’ve just got back from an enforced trip to the other side of the world, and am happy to receive so many kind messages regarding my absence, and happy to be back posting 🙂 Just a short reflection – I necessarily had to spend a couple of weeks in an environment where
Outside of meditation, reflecting now, 2 days later … did those thoughts arise at all? Where are they? … Are they any different in nature from the dream I had last night? Where has that gone? They both had a sense of ‘realness’ at the time, but what substance remains of either? Both resonate, and
I was reflecting this morning on how certain things seem to reach out to me from beyond time and space. They are so deep, so closely connected to me, indeed, they seem to be me in a sense, in the sense that I cannot separate or distinguish between them and me. For example, some dharma
Echoes Beyond Time Read Post »
I have been thinking recently about setting up a Online Dharma Study Group, and wondered if anyone out there was interested. Perhaps I could briefly describe what would be involved, and also some background to how it might be organised? The group study would centre around a Yahoo e-group, like those such as DWBN-chat, which
Online Kagyu Study Group Read Post »
Some reflections on Compassion, judging the correctness of actions, and Wisdom – in response to a discussion on a Buddhist list about a particular collective action that had taken place there. I’ve been reflecting quite a lot the last few days on these discussions on the list. Two themes which seem to have recurred in
Compassion, Judging and Wisdom Read Post »
I was just reflecting on how devotion really opens one’s heart up to the blessings of the Buddhas and Gurus. I added some materials to my teachers website last night, and the words of Shangpa Rinpoche’s reflections and prayers really touched my heart deeply. Though I wasn’t present at the celebration when he spoke the
Devotion Ripens the Heart Read Post »
I’m currently studying ‘Songs of Naropa’, a translation and commentary on two Mahamudra songs of Naropa by Thrangu Rinpoche. The book is wonderful, full of Thrangu Rinpoche’s usual systematic and insightful reflections. The Two Doha’s or spiritual songs in the book are new to me, the first time I’ve encountered them. Both are short, and
In response to the notion that: the teachings of Madhyamaka (Great Middle Way, or UmaChenpo in tib.) are the foundation of the view in Kagyu tradition. I didn’t say that Madhyamaka was the foundation of the Kagyu view. I actually said that within the tradition it is often said to be “most useful for clarifying
Madhyamaka and Shentong – Luminosity and Emptiness Read Post »
