Author: Albert

  • COMPASSION

    Amongst the flowers I am alone with my pot of wine drinking by myself; then lifting my cup I asked the moon to drink with me, its reflection and mine in the wine cup, just the three of us; then I sigh for the moon cannot drink, and my shadow goes emptily along with me…

  • DRINK YOUR TEA

    Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis  on which the world earth revolves  – slowly, evenly, without  rushing toward the future; Live the actual moment. Only this moment is life. Thich Nhat Hahn

  • FRISBEE GIANT

      Malcolm Sutherland is a Director, animator, illustrator, in Montreal, Quebec.  

  • RINGU TULKU RINPOCHE’S VISIT TO DUBLIN

    We were delighted to have Rinpoche in Ireland again last month. This is his 29th year visiting us and he continues to travel great distances to teach to whomever wishes to hear Dharma. We are very fortunate in Ireland that he spends almost a week here in a very busy schedule. For the first few…

  • WINTER WALK IN VOGRIE PARK

    Winter walk with the Nepalese community in Edinburgh led by Monica Wilde and Dr Mark Watson, Head of Flora at the Botanic Garden Edinburgh.  Yeshe Dorje.  

  • JANUARY EDITORIAL

    The mind that is learning is an innocent mind, whereas the mind that is merely acquiring knowledge is old, stagnant, corrupted by the past. An innocent mind perceives instantly, it is learning all the time without accumulating, and such a mind alone is mature.  J. Krishnamurti Welcome to 2019 and the year of the earth…

  • Must Have Sea View

    On the forklift truck on a grey morning Boz had a dream.  It was always the same dream; he was a man of stubborn allegiances and wild expectation. His luck would turn and he would retire to the seaside, the English seaside. He’d been happy there. Not so much the overpowering smells of vinegar, frying…

  • Elsewhere

      Japan Shinbazu Pond – even these withered lotuses can lift my heart   heated toilet seat – memories of growing up in a large family   deep-fried pork: I await instructions on how to eat it   we look through the dark to the place where Mount Fuji is supposed to be   arrival…

  • A LOVE CALCULUS

    Multiply the number of groups of people you hate by the number of individuals in those groups. The sum equals the number of reasons, causes, and triggers for you to experience the feeling of hatred in your heart; not only at those times of direct encounter with those persons, but also in each and every…

  • THE FINAL WORDS OF PADMASAMBHAVA

      While strolling down the main boulevard in Shigatse, the home of the Panchen Lamas, in 1987, I see only a few people and almost no cars. Tibet has just opened up for foreign travellers and back-packers some months before. Standing on the pavement, perusing the items displayed on makeshift tables in the market stalls,…

  • ERNIE BUCK: AN INTERVIEW

      When and how did you first discover Buddhism? Oh heavens!  In a conventional sense I would say by accident.  I started doing TM in about the early nineties or late eighties.  I had a quite stressful job at Bradford Chamber of Commerce; lots of squabbles and small ‘p’ politics, that sort of thing.  I…

  • THE ENJOYMENT OF SOUND: THE WORDS AND POETRY OF JEAN PAIRA PEMBERTON BY DIRK DE KLERK

    I remember, many years ago, visiting the Samye Ling monastery for my annual vacation from Germany to meditate, reflect and to attempt to recover from the existential anxiety of a young, displaced composer. I spent much of the time in silence, hoping to accelerate the process. I met Jean Paira Pemberton when she joined me…

  • KEEP SWIMMING

    This summer I went swimming,This summer I might have drownedBut I held my breath and I kicked my feetAnd I moved my arms around,I moved my arms around. Loudon Wainwright 111 “Swimming Song” Greatness in Small Things After contracting polio as a baby it was deemed, thankfully, that swimming would be good therapy for me.…

  • ODE TO MANCHESTER

    The blood of Irish, Catholic immigrantsAnd Russian, Jewish refugeesFlows through the veins of this Buddhist nun,A seeker of wisdom, compassion and peace, Whose path has encircled the world and alightsNow in Edinburgh, where it has stayed.But my heart cries out for Manchester,For Manchester where I was made. And I weep to see your suffering,Caused by…

  • HELLO FROM GOA

      AUGUST 30, 2017 in ARTICLES, PERSONAL STORIES. Hello from Goa, land of blue skies, sunshine and palm trees swaying in the balmy breeze. But lest you think that Liz and I are living the languid life of lotus eaters (okay, occasionally…) we are of course as trumped and brexited as the rest of you – but in…

  • THE DANGERS OF DILUTED BUDDHISM

    Some charismatic leaders take advantage of Western misconceptions rather than correct them, a Tibetan Buddhist teacher from the UK argues. In today’s Western society, where the dominant cultural systems are failing to provide explanations for life’s philosophical questions, a space has opened up that Buddhism is uniquely suited to address.

  • FAIRYLAND

    Warm, five o’clock, Scottish, June sunshine bathes my old ripening skin as I sit here by the Harbour Cottage Art Gallery, overlooking the deep muddied channel of the river. A faint smell of diesel is in the air. Fishing boats are queued up, blue and white, some a little rusted, moored and waiting. Empty lobster…