The Buddha didn’t turn water into wineThis is not a story about Buddhism or for Buddhists. After all I am not a Buddhist. It is a story for everyone. When the young prince, who became the person we refer to as “The Buddha,” left his sheltered, cossetted life in the palace for the first time, he saw, […]
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Si pas maintenant, quand? «Remettre les choses à plus tard est le plus grand gaspillage de vie: il nous arrache chaque jour à mesure qu’il vient et nous prive du présent en promettant l’avenir.» (Senece) Plus je vieillis, plus je suis conscient que notre vie humaine est finie. Pourtant, nous avons tendance à vivre avec […]
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If not now, when? “Putting things off is the greatest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes and denies us the present by promising the future.” (Seneca) The older I become, the more I am aware that our human lifetime is finite. Yet we tend to live with the illusion that […]
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Isn’t she beautiful! Isn’t she beautiful! Totally alive, totally open, totally present, totally in her power, totally in her sexuality. She is Yeshe Tsogyal, a female tantric Buddha. I could write a lot about her story and the symbolism of this image, but we’ll leave that for another time. “I want you to discover that you and […]
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The alternative to self-love is self-destruction. Because you won’t take the risk of loving yourself properly, you will be compelled instead to destroy yourself. So which would you rather have? – Alan Watts Nick, Do Not Indulge These Feelings!I used to struggle with self- love. Or, to put it differently? I had a strong streak […]
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To “do” or not to “do”, that is the question Sorry, Shakespeare! But why did I put “do” in quote marks? And what is that guy “do”-ing arranging flowers? Actually, I’m punning (it’s a tradition in my family, my grandpa could still make puns even in advanced dementia). In Japanese, the word that sounds like “Do” 道 […]
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Head or heart? Head or heart? New Age spirituality and pseudo-spirituality constantly calls for us to be “heart centred” – to trust our feelings. And yet, a life path directed by emotion is going to be a roller coaster of ups and downs. A constant seeking of highs and running away from lows. A constant swinging […]
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A complete waste of time? There is a story… A group of zen monks were about to embark on a long and arduous meditation retreat sitting 18 hours a day for three weeks. At the start of the retreat, the master gave them an encouraging little pep talk: “I want you to understand,” he said, […]
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Is enlightenment the means rather than the end? I’ve spent the greater part of my adult life believing that my purpose in life was the achievement of union, enlightenment, realization, liberation, non-duality – call it what you may. I believed that the practice of meditation, kindness, moral discipline etc would (in one lifetime or another) […]
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There is more to mindfulness than meets the eye… There is more to mindfulness than meets the eye… or the ear, or the nose, or the skin!The term “Mindfulness” has become almost a cliche today and the idea of bringing ones attention to the present moment is often cited as a panacea for every emotional […]
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