Category: Features

  • Egg Curry-फूल्को तर्कारी

        Ingredients 4 hard-boiled eggs 3 medium-sized potatoes 4 medium-sized tomatoes 1 medium onion (chopped) 1/2 teaspoon turmeric 1/2 teaspoon ginger 4 cloves garlic 3/4 teaspoon salt bread crumbs oil for frying chopped coriander leaves Process Cut the eggs into two halves and wrap them in breadcrumbs.  Heat the oil and shallow fry them,…

  • DHARMA IN THE WEST by Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel

    WHY DO BUDDHISTS PRAY? When we recognize how lost we get in the habitual momentum of our thoughts and emotions, we realize how little strength we have to move in the direction of sanity. This can inspire us to understand and appreciate the power of prayer. Prayer cuts through the wild and discursiveness activity of…

  • Meadow Woundwort in the Field!

    Posted on August 16, 2015 by Monica Wilde Recently I got bitten yet again. Not by horseflies this time, but some mosquitoes. Sadly I reacted in just the same way. About 27 years ago, I was bitten by a large centipede while living in the West Indies – the joke shop kind, huge and shiny…

  • CHAU MEIN भाजेको चाउ चाउ

    Ingredients 1/2 standard packet of noodles 1 cup of chopped vegetables (carrot, cabbage, onions, tomato, coriander, etc) 1/2 teaspoon of spices (garam masala) 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder 1/4 teaspoon paprika powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 – 2 eggs beaten 1 1/2 tablespoons of ghiu (clarified butter) for frying Process Boil the noodles in water for…

  • Bodhicharya Summer Camp Community Ngöndro

    Vila Verde, Portugal A number of years ago while teaching on the 9th Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje’s shorter mahamudra text named ‘Pointing Out the Dharmakaya’, Ringu Tulku sowed the seeds for this year’s summer-camp topic, when he introduced the idea of group practice for accumulating merit.  He explained that one hundred people reciting the Vajrasattva mantra…

  • KABULI CHANA (Chick Peas ) काबुली चना

      Cooking time: 40 minutes 1 cup chick peas (washed and soaked in 4 cups of water) OR 800g tin 2 large tomatoes (chopped into 16 pieces) 1 ½ teaspoons of coriander powder ¼ teaspoon of turmeric ¼ teaspoon of crushed chili 1 ¼ teaspoons of salt  2 – 3 tablespoons of lemon juice ¼ cup of…

  • Are We Really Practicing? by Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel

        Are We Really Meditating? Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel examines common misconceptions about Buddhist practice that can derail even the most seasoned practitioners. What is meditation practice? When are we genuinely practicing and when are we just going through the motions, caught in unexamined assumptions about practice? I often ask myself these questions so I don’t…

  • GRASPING THE NETTLE by Monica Wilde

    You can get a cheery mood and energy boost from nettle leaf and particularly from raw dried nettle seed (technically fruits and seeds), rubbed through a sieve to remove the irritating hairs. The ‘feel-good’ factor from eating raw dried nettle fruits/seeds is caused by the neurotransmitters acetylcholine nd serotonin, with choline and histamine also found…

  • Approaching the middle of a wood

    There is something unnerving about approaching the middle of a book – when you are writing it that is.  A bit like approaching the middle of a dark wood, partly because you are not sure if you have reached the middle and partly because you don’t know what you might find there. Will your heroine…

  • Coconut Vegetable Tofu Medley

        We all know that for healthy living we require a balanced of protein, carbohydrates and fats, minerals ,vitamines etc. Tibetan medical healthcare  and  Ayurveda has considered all aspects of  the diet in detail. The Tibetan Medicine and the Ayurvedic diet is one that not only nourishes the body, but also restores balance of the  ‘Tridoshas’…

  • SPINACH PAKORA पालुङ पाकोरा

      Ingredients 2 cupfuls of spinach leaves 1 cup of gram flour (besan/chickpea flour) 2 green chilies chopped or 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder (optional) 1 big onion finely chopped 1/2 teaspoon of cumin powder pinch of asafoetida (hing) 1/2 teaspoon of salt 1/2 cup of water or as required oil for deep frying Process Use…

  • A Conversation with David Brazier

    I receive an email from a friend, Tamuly Jung in France, telling me that a neighbour of hers, David Brazier, is in Edinburgh for events organised by the Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace.  This is an events-led Scottish charity organising programmes to promote the understanding of spirituality, and of interspirituality and intraspirituality, and…

  • Wild Food Winter Salads

    Posted on November 28, 2014 by Monica Wilde It’s been so mild this November that there are still lots of wild salad plants around. This salad bowl is made up of chickweed, bitter cress and wild brassica flowers with a rapeseed oil and soy sauce dressing.   I live in a field in West Lothian.…

  • Lama Tsering Paljor

     Lama Tsering Paljor In 2012 Donal Creedon led a one-month retreat in BMC in Sikkim.  He taught from Tsele Natsok Rangdrol’s Lamp of Mahamudra, not an easy text by any means.  In order to retain some sort of equilibrium to the teachings which often left me confused about some of the complicated techniques propounded, I…

  • PUMPKIN ACHAR

    PUMPKIN ACHAR  फर्सिको अचार् Pumpkin is extensively grown in Nepal and there is a very common recipe to prepare pumpkin pickle.  Now, as winter approaches in the northern hemisphere, pumpkins are readily available and below is an economical method of preserving them. Ingredients 2 cups of small pieces of pumpkin ½ cup of sesame seeds…

  • CONVERSATION WITH MINNA STENROOS

      Meena with her son Many of our readers will know Minna from her work on Ringu Tulku Rinpoche’s teachings on the The Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicharyavatara) by Shantideva, the eighth century Buddhist monk and scholar. We are sitting on the bus taking us from the Bodhicharya Summer Camp in Casa da Torre to Braga in northern…

  • THE HIMALAYAN CENTRE: LEITH

      Some members of the team inside the centre with Harriet Cross The former Dr Bell’s Swimming Pool on Great Junction Street in Leith, will soon be revived into the Himalayan Centre for Arts & Culture, providing a low cost, energy efficient community space for workshops, theatre productions, exhibitions and ceremonies. While the Centre is…