Opening to Desire
Desire. It is a provocative word. What sensations, thoughts and feelings arise as you sit with it? Does energy come, or uncertainty? Fear, excitement or numbness? All of us have conditioned ideas and responses...
The Process of Transformation
Mindfulness can be a bridge – one that offers kind awareness long enough to know things as they are, and not just what we might think. Within this deeper knowing we unveil the insidious...
Meditation that Goes Beyond Self Help
These days meditation is popping up everywhere. In fact, the “business of mindfulness” is quickly becoming a foundation of the multi-trillion dollar wellness industry. In the United States alone, the “meditation industry” is worth...
Not Knowing as an Active Practice
We sometimes think of not knowing as something negative, but is it really? Truly not-knowing allows spaciousness, openness, and much greater intimacy. When we make not-knowing an intentional action, the barriers that hold us...
Asking For Help
I used to find asking for help incredibly difficult, especially when I languished in the hell realm and / or the hungry ghost realm of the traditional wheel of life. In fact, I am...
Faith Hope and Love on the Dharma Path
This coming weekend is Easter. Raised here in England in a Christian culture, I associate this time of year both with a bursting forth of incredible beauty in the natural world, of trees coming...
Coping in the Present
When people ask me how I’m doing these days and how my practice is holding up, I respond by explaining that these are the times I have practiced for and what my practice is...
The Elephant’s Footprint: The Four Noble Truths
Pali: Yadidam cattàri purisayugàni attha purisapuggalàEsa bhagavato sàvakasängho English: That is the four pairs, the eight kinds of noble beingsThese are the Blessed One’s disciples. These phrases are in daily chants in the Theravada...
Nature Buddha, Buddha-Nature
Over the last two hundred years, scientists have been finding more and more evidence to show that we humans are part of the evolutionary process, having emerged from the life stream as descendants of...
The Human Face of the Buddha
In a world rife with division, stress, strife and injustice, many of us rely on Buddhist teachings and practices to address the challenges we face. But the Buddha was not only a wise spiritual...