To drill down a bit on emptiness and mere appearance, both of which are invaluable contemplations during mandala offerings and life in general … some months before he passed away, Venerable Geshe Kelsang said: All phenomena their own emptiness appears as themselves. Otherwise all phenomena do not exist at all. In The Oral Instructions of Mahamudra, Venerable Geshe Kelsang’s most recent instructions on how to do a retreat on mandala…
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What is a day really for? I’ve seen four clips these past few days that illustrate the need to think about this if I want my life to have a deeper meaning. The first, and simplest, clip…
Fairly dicey times here on Planet Earth. What direction are we headed in? In the introduction to Prayers for World Peace, which Geshe Kelsang gave us way back in 2001, he says: World peace is very important;…
If we get into the habit of making mandala offerings, we swiftly purify our mind and start to see the world in a purer way. For example, we may notice that we can still love people even…
A very handsome man, to my eyes, just walked into this London café on what looked to be a date with a woman sitting here. “Lucky her,” I was half-thinking; but in the time it took for…
Lately I’ve had no time to develop a full blown article from up my sleeve, so I thought I’d share some gentle musings instead. Gratitude Simon from Eritrea told me he is in a good mood because…
Guest appearance by the author of this popular article: Chronic pain & fatigue and the quiet power of Dharma. Rushing to hospital recently with severe pain and other never-before-experienced symptoms, I was admitted for same-day emergency surgery.…
In the last article on Buddha and the Brain, I quoted from How to Transform Your Life on how our body and mind are different…
Here are two meditations you can practice at home. All you need is a comfortable chair or cushion and five to ten minutes’ free time.…
Sometimes dubbed “the age of anxiety”, people are reportedly experiencing a lot of (di)stress in this modern age. Up to a third of the UK…
In the previous article on Tantra, I explain a meditation for overcoming attachment and other delusions that is derived from Buddha’s Tantric methods. Now I want…
A dear friend emailed me during my rather paltry adventure in Denver airport. She is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer at the moment, and this is…
Karma is a natural law that governs us, like the law of gravity. It’s not the same as fate or predestination because we can change…
Buddha’s teachings on Sutra and Tantra are all designed to solve our suffering and center us in the solution. This is quite a big subject,…
Where do catastrophes really spring from? Hurricanes, earthquakes, accidents, illnesses, etc? The COVID-19 worldwide pandemic, for example, do you remember that?! (It was only 3…