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.…
We all need to be able to let go of our unhappiness. This, to put it mildly, is a Very Useful Skill – unless of…
A bit more on the subject of delusions and how to get rid of them. Nothing is as it seems If it is true that…
Leaving Preston, Lancs for London just now, I saw a poster on the train platform: It’s okay not to be okay. Nowadays there’s lots of…
Tributes are pouring in for Elizabeth Edwards, who died at 10.15am yesterday. As one cancer survivor says: “It breaks our hearts, because it could be…
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…
(You may want to read this article first to get up to scratch. I’ve divided the article up into two parts to make it easier to…