Last week’s post described some of the experiences in the first half of a four day block of mandala practice: the third out of the four practices of Ngondro. You might recall those first two days had me come face to face with a futility and deep questioning of “what an earth am I doing?” On …
Marking season nearly through, I managed to carve out four days in my week to press on with Ngondro practice. Just in the use of that phrase, “press on” hints at a flavour of something! As I have explained previously on this blog, Ngondro are the four “preliminary practices” a student of Vajrayana does in …
In a post a few weeks ago I mentioned that one gauntlet thrown down by the Buddhist path is to hold simultaneously two, apparently contradictory “truths”. The Tricycle magazine’s website explains… “The doctrine of two truths—the absolute and the relative—holds that there are two ways of viewing the world: as things appear to be, and …
On my recent retreat with Judy Lief in upstate New York, I took a deep dive into the teachings of “Mahamudra“. Literally translated, Mahamudra means “great seal” – and like a wax seal used in days gone by, a seal of authentication. The practices of Mahamudra reveal the ‘authentic’ nature of mind to the meditator; …
It’s not uncommon after a day of working with clients and meeting with supervisees that I sit mulling over how therapy works. My teaching role also allows such reflection; I recently wrote about the nature of change and some thoughts that came to me whilst preparing new teaching material for our MSc psychotherapy course. Today …
I have just returned from a trip to the US. Part “big birthday” celebration; part tour of Buddhist friends old and new; part retreat. Ever since completing my meditation teacher training there 11 years ago, the city of New York has been something of a spiritual home for me. The yearlong immersion in Buddhist study …
Acknowledging that I have not written for a while, for all sorts of reasons…and I carry an underlying sense of time moving so quickly. It now strikes me – with some irony – that I chose my upcoming “big birthday” as a writing prompt to get my blogging habit back under way. Time IS passing …
Last week, the morning I was pressing “send” to launch an email with my final book submission in tow, I paused…I had forgotten something. As I walked back home after a celebratory breakfast I settled in my mind on one last amendment that was needed: to the acknowledgments. Writing the acknowledgements section was one of …
Its in! Just moments ago I pressed “send” on an email to the editor at Routledge…and my finished book manuscript is off. This morning, I took myself for a celebratory breakfast at my favourite cafe. A moment to pause. I felt pretty content but pondered whether it was because I have been working on finalising …
As a Buddhist, it isn’t unusual to have thoughts about “path”, but at this time of year it always very much at the fore. Each ‘twixmas’ I spend those ‘in-between days’ reflecting on the year just gone, and feeding any insights into the year ahead. I have been doing this same process for 12 years …