Category: Features

  • POHA POTATOES

      This is a simple, spicy Indian lunch or brunch made with rice and potatoes. Perfect as a side dish with curry, too. Ingredients 4 medium waxy potatoes (such as Charlotte or Jersey Royal) 140g/5oz thick poha rice (also called flaked rice or thick flattened rice) 3 tbsp olive oil generous pinch of ground asafoetida 1 tsp urid dal 1 tsp black mustard seeds 1…

  • BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME

    Can we love our families fully while upholding the Buddha’s teaching on non-attachment? Sometimes people ask me if there isn’t a conflict between the Mahayana instruction to see all beings as close relatives, worthy of our affection and compassion, and Buddhist teachings on non attachment. Perhaps they are thinking of Jetsun Milarepa’s words: When you…

  • MEDITATION

    Because of the complexity of various forms of meditation, the text is broken up into two main areas, although it could be broken down much further. Judeo/Christian Buddhist CHRISTIAN MEDITATION This seems to take the form of prayer in order to appreciate the revelations of god.  This can be done by concentrating on a passage in…

  • HOW TO FIND INNER PEACE

    If you are reading these words, it means that you either realize you’re not at peace and want to be, or the sound of the word drew you … it’s something you haven’t really thought about, but it resonates and you want it in your life. The universal truth is that we all suffer.  Whether rich…

  • LIVING AND DYING IN PEACE

    Living & Dying in Peace Dying in a graceful and joyful way – the practice that we need to work on. Ringu Tulku Rinpoche Our vision for this evolving website is that there will be ongoing guidance and instruction from Ringu Tulku on living a peaceful, purposeful life and how to face, embrace and engage…

  • 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…

  • 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,…

  • 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…

  • 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.

  • LET’S DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT.

      Question: How does one stop making the story real? Sometimes I feel the story, my narrative is so crystalized and I can watch a pattern happen again and again and it’s frustrating to continue repeating the same hurtful patterns. I am interested in learning to keep my heart open, even though it’s scary. Dear Friend,…

  • BULGAR WHEAT WITH SPRING ONIONS AND MUSHROOMS

    (Serves 6.) 4 tbs vegetable oil 2 spring onions, trimmed and sliced in fine half rings (including green) 6 medium-sized mushrooms, wiped with a damp cloth and sliced 1 teaspoon of salt Medium or coarse-grained bulgar wheat, measured to the 15fl oz level in a glass,  measuring jug, or weighed. Heat the oil in a heavy pot…

  • AUTHENTIC GENDER EQUALITY

    In ACTIVISM by Kim Roberts6 Comments I live a short drive away from what was, until recently, known as the sex-change capital of the world: Trinidad, Colorado. As more people explore the option to alter their biology, gender issues have surfaced in so many ways it’s hard to recognize certain facets of culture we used to take for…

  • How can we best prepare ourselves for death?

      That’s the same way, actually. In a way, the way you prepare others for death and the way you prepare yourself for death is more or less similar. You have to see what would work and what would not work for yourself. It’s important that as a practitioner facing death you try to prepare…

  • The Heart Sutra

      A New Translation from the Chinese by Hanh Niêm with Commentary ______________________________ Prajna Paramita Hridaya – Heart of Perfected Wisdom The Bodhisattva Avelokiteshvara, Practicing the perfection of wisdom, going deep within, Was illuminated and perceived that All five skandhas are empty of intrinsic existence. Thus being at one with all things, Experiencing things directly…

  • Tofu Sushi Bowl

      Ingredients 100g/3½oz firm tofu, drained 50g/1¾oz sushi rice 25g/1oz frozen soya beans low-calorie cooking spray 4 radishes, thinly sliced ¼ small cucumber, halved lengthways, seeds removed, cut into thin matchsticks ¼ small carrot, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks 3 spring onions, thinly shredded 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds 1 tbsp Japanese pickled ginger,…

  • Generating Water from a Backpack

    One of the most vital resources on the planet may soon be readily available in your backpack.A professor of mechanical engineering is leading a research team to develop a lightweight, battery-powered pack that can harvest water from the air—as many as 10 gallons per hour— even in arid locations.The nanofiber-based harvester could help address modern…