Category: Articles

  • REMEMBERING HARRY

    Death to me is something that is perfectly natural. Of course, as a boy and as a grownup person, like most people, I think have some feeling like this: they avoid thinking about death because very few people actually want to die. One of our firmest attachments is to life itself. And yet if you…

  • 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’…

  • Big Buddha is watching you!

    The object I am about  to describe was probably made in Nepal. It has been in my possession for several years, and I can’t remember where I bought it. Certainly not in Nepal, a country I have yet to visit. The object is a wallet made of coarsely woven hemp and reinforced with raw cotton…

  • 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…

  • COMMUNITY CHAMPIONS REFLECTION SECTION

    Community Champions Reflection Section One of our Community Champions, Ankhra, reflects on what being environmental means to her… Memoirs of another age Winter was different when I was growing up, not to be dreaded for the cold but almost celebrated. My grandparents started to prepare for it in the late summer by gathering apples from…

  • Healing the Wounded Heart

      Almost two years ago I found myself unexpectedly in a hospital bed awaiting a common but serious medical procedure to unblock an artery. I had just returned from a trip to visit my daughter in the US, and could count a few mostly work-related flights in the five months prior to that, including a…

  • Universal Laws

      If you play with anything long enough it will break. Murphy’s Law Anything you buy will be in the sale next week. Emma Bombeck When ripping an article from a newspaper, the tear is always into and never away from the required article. Alan Fraser When you give a child a hammer, everything becomes a nail. Leo…

  • 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…

  • COMPASSION CAN CHANGE A MAN

    Photo of Avalokiteshvara in Singapore by Yeshe At this year’s summer camp in Portugal, Rinpoche, amongst other topics, talked about the power of compassion. So here is a story to share with you. Since 2007 I have been teaching ‚ Being happy, how do I do that? at a night school in Aix-la-Chappel (Aachen, Germany). Based…

  • 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…

  • LANGUAGE AND THAT

      Some examples of correspondence sent to various departments of the Western Isles Council, Scotland.  There are serious problems of thinking in Gaelic and writing in English:   I am writing on behalf of my sink which is running away from the wall. The toilet seat is cracked – where do I stand? This is…