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 →
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 →
It is a basic human desire to seek happiness and satisfaction in our lives. The question we all face in life is how do we find this happiness and satisfaction? The way we answer that question is the way we …Continue reading →
My challenge at this point in time is encountering the ocean of grief and sorrow. This sadness comes and goes in waves. At times the sorrow seems fathomless. This is not a linear process, and neither are these reflections. Issue: …Continue reading →
A friend I’ve known for some time has alcohol addiction problems. He is very concerned about the world’s suffering and has strongly held views about the cause of this, and how to change things for the better. The trouble is, …Continue reading →
One of the Six Worlds is the world of the hungry ghosts. It is depicted in Buddhist literature as one of the worlds into which one can be reborn after death; more important for us is to see that it …Continue reading →
I have recently moved to an idyllic house in France and although the winter has been very cold, the spring has come like a fanfare. My garden is full of blossom on the many fruit trees and the woodlands around …Continue reading →
The next thing on the retreat schedule is working meditation, and I’ve been asked to give you a talk as an introduction to this, why we do it, why it’s important, how to do it… With practice we can bring …Continue reading →
It was somewhere towards the end of the afternoon of King’s Day. We were in Amsterdam selling old clothes on the street market to get some extra money for our plan of traveling the world… The boy next to us …Continue reading →
When I was the Prior at the Eugene Buddhist Priory several people asked me about a sense of confusion regarding their meditation practice. These are some thoughts I had at the time, revised slightly for inclusion in this issue of …Continue reading →