How do we learn to love without attachment?
Just keep going with Dharma practice on all fronts – spiral learning. As we understand suffering better we understand its origin better and its cessation. Then we have a glimpse of Right View which we can then stabilise through the Eight Fold Path. It always comes back to that… Continue reading How do we learn to love without attachment?
Do the Buddhas & Bodhisattvas hear us when we pray? What if we feel nothing is happening or changing?
Since we are inseparable from the Awakened Nature of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and their pranidhanas and adhistana [powerful blessing] pervade the Universe and the hearts of all beings – when we pray there is no way it cannot connect to the mandala of Awakening whether that seems to us to be happening or not. Continue reading Do the Buddhas & Bodhisattvas hear us when we pray? What if we feel nothing is happening or changing?
How does Karma relate to what is happening in the world at the moment?
Karma is indeed a big question – it involves the whole Buddhist cosmological view quite foreign to a modern western way of thinking about life. The world of our experience internally and externally is a reflection of our own past wishes, intentions and deeds of body, speech and mind. To that extent you could say we are choosing our future all the time… Continue reading How does Karma relate to what is happening in the world at the moment?
What is the difference between sutras and tantras?
Whether it is the Mahayana sutra tradition or the Vajrayana tantric tradition the key to their effectiveness in terms of liberation is right view and in terms of benefitting others, Bodhichitta. Continue reading What is the difference between sutras and tantras?
How Can We Take Outdoor Meditation Deeper? Can meditating outside be too dependent on enjoying the external environment?
It’s mysterious and wonderful that we are experiencing anything at all. So the important thing is not to enjoy external things less, but to enjoy them more and to discover that way of enjoying them that then carries over into every experience. That is how we develop equanimity. Continue reading How Can We Take Outdoor Meditation Deeper? Can meditating outside be too dependent on enjoying the external environment?
A Conversation About Mind, Science and Emptiness
It is fascinating isn’t it – there is still more that the ancients got right and our intuition gets right that is beyond science because science tries to know from a view point outside of what it is trying to know – that limits it good and proper – it will forever find increasing detail and more ingenious ways to describe things and use their knowledge to do stuff – but it’s all in the direction away from the point really. Continue reading A Conversation About Mind, Science and Emptiness
The Guru Principle Event
the wonderful event that coincided with the publication of The Guru Principle book which is now published worldwide, Lama Shenpen had a lively, inspiring and engaging discussion about the term ‘guru’ with her friend and colleague, the esteemed scholar, author and translator Elizabeth Callahan. Continue reading The Guru Principle Event
How do we strengthen our connection to our teachers?
We can remain committed to all our teachers and honour our connection to them all and see them as all-of-apiece – they are all important and are all manifestations of The Guru Principle, our living connection with the teacher in the world – the teacher who makes that live connection for us… Continue reading How do we strengthen our connection to our teachers?
How did Lama Shenpen become a Lama?
Having the title of lama is not without its problems. The very title itself invites projections of various kinds. However, to say one is not a lama seems to imply that one is not qualified to teach. There are problems whether one uses the title or not. One reason for this is that the term is used in such a general way that it is unclear what it implies even among Tibetans, let alone among Westerners… Continue reading How did Lama Shenpen become a Lama?
Does being a Dharma practitioner mean retreating from the ‘real world’? Lama Shenpen on practising here and now
There is no use in trying to run away from life. It follows you wherever you go. Sometimes we are seduced by ideals and feel we have to rush off to find the ideal situation in which to practice or to create a perfect world somehow. But it’s all notions and ideas. It means one is always on the run looking everywhere but here… Continue reading Does being a Dharma practitioner mean retreating from the ‘real world’? Lama Shenpen on practising here and now