How important is relating to imagery, ceremonies and ritual in Buddhism? Does it matter if we can’t? It is true that often the meaning of a ceremony can easily get lost or neglected and then it can become a poor substitute for the real thing. But it can actually become a kind of language that we can use to express our deepest aspirations. Continue reading Student’s Question: I can’t relate to images of the Buddha
Lama Shenpen on our connection to others: “Our living connection with other beings is mysterious. We cannot find any boundary to our awareness and yet another being is another being to be loved and responded to. They are not just our imagination. So that living connection or boundary between one being and another is deeply mysterious and wonderful. It is the source of all joy … Continue reading Our Mysterious Connection With Others
I think you are entirely right in thinking that all this is a sign that the nature of reality is very different from the way we habitually think. Jung talked of this kind of phenomenon in terms of synchronicity. It seems to happen more and more as one embarks on a spiritual path Continue reading What can we learn from coincidence? What can it teach us about the nature of reality?
The Heart Sutra tells us that what is known in the ordinary grasping way, by the complicated mind that has turned away from the simplicity of Reality, is actually false and not real. It all lacks self-nature Continue reading Article: Understanding the Heart Sutra
Lama Shenpen answers a meditation student’s question on the effect of the prayers on the people who have died, especially in view of the karma and its results. “…I even find it convincing that because our hearts are all one what we wish and feel about others can directly affect them.” Continue reading Heart Connections with the Deceased
How can we align with our Buddhist practice over the Christmas period? In the extract below from Lama Shenpen’s book ‘The Mayayana Feast Offering‘ we can see how we might approach Christmas as we would the feast practice with the sharing of food, and as an opportunity to practice Dana (generosity/giving) and generating Punya (the power of goodness) which can be dedicated for the … Continue reading The Power of Goodness & Giving: Buddhist Practice at Christmas
