What does it mean to make right effort in our practice? You probably know some of the Buddha’s own advice on this. He tells us: it is like the strings on an instrument. If they are too slack, they … Continue reading →
Today I’m going to talk a little about monastic life, and why a person might want to become a monk. We don’t often do this, for a number of reasons. One is that we don’t want to give the … Continue reading →
This article first appeared in the September – December 2023 Portobello Buddhist Priory Newsletter. This version has been edited. These are a few personal thoughts about ‘darkness’. I am not exploring how concepts of dark and light are … Continue reading →
I am alive! and I love my old age. When I was younger I felt so much confusion and hesitation, many doubts and fears, and I felt vulnerable. There was so much I didn’t understand. I was a foreigner … Continue reading →
A transcript of a Dharma talk given during meditation at Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey in 2019. I invite us please to listen to this talk by allowing ourselves to drop into Stillness as a stone drops to the bottom of … Continue reading →
Based on a conversation between the author and Rev Master Olwen Crookall-Greening in November 2023. I spent three months as a lay resident at Throssel Hole in the Autumn of 2023, and decided to write about the experience, in the … Continue reading →
The brief answer is: it depends on what you mean by ‘religious’. If we see ‘being religious’ as believing in a set of religious doctrines that define belonging to a particular religion, then I would say the answer is … Continue reading →
Practising willing acceptance is a gateway to trust and Right Understanding. In formal meditation we sit in willing acceptance by being here openly with everything that shows itself, without interfering with it, without judging it, without dividing it into … Continue reading →
This is an edited transcript of a talk given at Shasta Abbey in June 2023. I would like to start with a story about an animal that I grew up with in the Midwest, the buffalo. Actually what I … Continue reading →
My mother recently gave me a cup. It has JAPAN stamped on the bottom. I think it is a pretty common design, I’ve seen it often in second-hand stores. It’s unusual as cups go only because it has two layers; … Continue reading →
