Left Palm <------------> Right Palm gazing at these wondrous hands easeful presence and skilful engagement mind and matter form and function knower and known work and play inner and outer micro and macro self and other one and many profound and mundane worldly and spiritual stillness and movement animate and inanimate brain and body individual … Continue reading Silent Prayer
Bodhicitta is an important concept in Mahayana Buddhism that hints at an immense mystery. Literally, the heart or mind (citta) of awakening (bodhi). It is the ground of our being, and the path we walk in learning to live well and meaningfully. It is the fruition of a life illumined with profound understanding. At the … Continue reading With Love and Good Wishes
Gliding through spaces sacred groves of illumination, translucent mind embracing. Consensual drifting these currents of beingness bringing forth worlds – not through language but through love and loving – togetherness nurturing. The rhythms of this breathing, – the music that we are – warm breath a lick of salt. Cascading wonderment whispering . . . … Continue reading Remembering that Precious No-Name Being, "Namgyal"
It used to be that the spiritual life was a spontaneous unearned blessing, divine presence in action. Then it became something one had to work at, a commodity paid for with many retreats. Sadly, for some today, spirituality has dwindled to not much more than a manipulation of many re-tweets! Oh may we open our … Continue reading Poetical Invitations
The knowing that I am is the behaviour of the ocean of being which is all there is to know by the knowing that I am. Like understanding the weather, there are countless factors: some large in form or long in time, some of micro dimension – transient sparks, so many factors communing together making … Continue reading Native to this Earth – a root dharma
Portrayed as a radiant buddha figure, Vajrasattva represents the primordial natural state of pure and total presence – the essence of body, speech and mind activity of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. As a meditation, the primary purpose of Vajrasattva practice is to remove the obstacles obscuring one's perception of the true nature of mind, and … Continue reading Vajrasattva's Hundred Syllable Mantra: a summation of the path
These days I find myself reviewing Prajnaparamita/Madhyamaka philosophy (curtesy of wonderful translations by Karl Brunnholzl) along with some of David Bohm's early writings (particularly his book "Causality and Chance in Modern Physics"). This morning I recalled a poem I wrote in the mid 90s and was amazed at its continuing freshness. I suppose that this … Continue reading Capricious Chance and Steady Causality
The four foundations of mindfulness are often discussed in terms of actively directing mindful awareness towards the body, feelings, states of mind and phenomena. Here is a slightly different approach that you may find enriching. The phrase "awareness of body" most commonly invokes a sense of intently investigating one's body or one's experience of embodiment. … Continue reading Your Body is an Ocean of Awareness
I'm happy to post a newly revised E-book – Satipaṭṭhāna: Foundations of Mindfulness; A Manual for Meditators. This revised edition has been extended from 46 pages to 80. Click here to download the complete text in PDF format. For those of you who are ongoingly working with this teaching, you might consider having it printed and … Continue reading Excerpts from Newly Revised and Extended Satipaṭṭhāna E-book
In high school, I took a course in 'speed reading'. We were lured into it with promises that it would improve our grades and our efforts to "get ahead and succeed in life". They didn't mention, because no-one at that time could know, that it would help us read inter-net screens, blogs, news reports and … Continue reading In Praise of Slow Reading and Old Fashioned Print
Green Dharma Treasury 