Letting go of delusion is about cultivating enthusiasm for life… You need to keep coming back to look more carefully at what you mean by detachment – is it cutting off connection with life or is it letting go of delusion and attachments that are just the cause of suffering? Continue reading How to reject samsara but not reject enthusiasm for life
A student writes: I had an experience where I suddenly realised I don’t really believe complete Enlightenment is possible or that there is rebirth. And thought why should I really believe them as I have no experience of either? Sometimes the everyday world that most people are fascinated with seems so real as if that is really what life is. Throughout the years I have … Continue reading Is Enlightenment really possible and what is ‘real life’?
The Truth within us is reflected in the world around us and communicates with it. For example, it is the beauty within us that recognised the beauty in the world. It is the pain within us that enables us to feel compassion for others. Continue reading Truth/Dharma is a living presence in the world
There is light at the end of the tunnel. There always is because we are Buddha by nature. It is worth aspiring to know what that really means. Continue reading Feeling exhausted by life? How can we start to care again?
I cheer on those who campaign and donate to many causes. I try to play my part. It would help the situation if everyone did at least this much – that is how I think of it. Continue reading How might we respond skilfully to the climate and ecological crisis?
We can train ourselves to notice the impulse to fill up every moment so that there are no gaps – the disease of our age – and we could let that go sometimes. Instead, we could start programming gaps into our day. Relaxed unfocused awareness is the very ground of our being; it is that space that we both long for and are terrified of. We must be careful not to use our Dharma practice as another way to distract ourselves from this great ‘nowhereness’ that is right under our noses and that we are trying to deny. Continue reading Making space for ‘Gaps’: Are you filling up every moment of your day doing something or distracting yourself, so there are no gaps?
Bearing death in mind is not a matter of turning away from the beauty of life. It is about enjoying life to the full because you are not deluding yourself any more. You come to really know what life actually is. Continue reading Student’s Question: How can we enjoy worldly things, knowing that they are impermanent?
That is why we talk about practice and the path, it is not just a one shot deal. We then have to train to be able to remember it and access it in every situation. Continue reading Student’s Question: How do I integrate my practice into my life?
From the Buddhist point of view the answer is that there is no point to a life that is not set on the path to Awakening. It is just a whole lot of suffering. Continue reading A Student Asks: Why are we here? What is the point of all this life?
Mandala Principle is about the pattern and structure of everything that happens. The basic pattern is a centre or a central point from which everything else emanates. In Tibetan, the Sanskrit term ‘mandala’ is translated as kyilkor, which literally means a centre and a periphery. Every experience has this structure. Continue reading Article: What is Mandala Principle? How can it help us connect to and understand the world we live in?
