How It Is To Become Old
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 →
Health and welfare
Know the Sweet Joy of Living the Way
It began on election night in the United States – my looking at joy – and with the words of a Philadelphia pastor, “When there’s so much hate and so much resistance to truth and justice, joy is itself an … Continue reading →
A meditation in a time of fracture
July 2019 The neurologist moves his chair to the left, adjusts the height so that his eyes are level and 3ft away from mine (as recommended) and says “I’m afraid to say that you have motor neurone disease.” I look … Continue reading →
How all things enfold to bring you home
Since as early as aged ten, I remember I struggled with the question of what is the purpose of life in general, and then my life – and how extraordinary it was that the world moved as if there was … Continue reading →
My illness is not my True Nature
Of course the above title should be self-evident to a Buddhist but sadly that is not how I have felt till very recently. I have lived with mental illness most of my life. The symptoms of OCD (an anxiety based … Continue reading →
The heart of the matter
Written in response to the last (Summer) issue of the Journal. As human beings, we face many challenges, and for those of us who experience post-traumatic stress disorder and accompanying anxiety and depression, everyday tasks can become monumental and require … Continue reading →
An odyssey through depression (Part 2)
When visiting one of our smaller temples a few years ago, I was asked by the prior if I might talk about or answer any questions about training with depression. As they pointed out, most if not all of our … Continue reading →
The most imperfect ring-down
Anyone who has experienced intense anxiety in the form of panic attacks will know how this manifests: the racing heartbeat, hands shaking, difficulty breathing and speaking. As a lay trainee I train with a meditation practice; it is private and … Continue reading →
Training with depression and other mental health issues
When we have been training for some time and we find that we are still contending with a condition like depression, we may feel a sense of failure or inadequacy and doubts may arise, either about the practice or our … Continue reading →
An odyssey through depression (Part 1)
Here I address training with depression from a point of view of pure meditation (serene reflection meditation). Depression can appear to be the supreme obstacle to meditation practice and Buddhist training. Serious depression distorts our perceptions, confuses our thinking, and … Continue reading →