Category: Articles

  • 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.…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Buddhist Humour

     

  • 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…

  • Your Policy

    [How to let a reader know from a one-sided conversation on the phone what the person at the other end is saying.  The obvious ploy would be to have the recipient of a phone call continuously repeat what the other is saying. But this may abrade the reader with such an obvious and redundant repetitive…

  • 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…

  • Each Morning You Awake…

    Each morning you wake and begin your inner story about the day ahead.  Much of this story is a repetition of the thousands of stories you have spu in your life. What if you could birth a new story, completely untouched by your old stories?  Would it take you somewhere you have not been before? …

  • 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,…

  • Bardos

    ‘Live and let die’, a reflection on the summer camp Summer Camp 2018:  I had my first experience of the Bodhicharya summer camp this August. It was a life changing experience in many ways. The theme of the camp was ‘Bardos’, which translates to transitions. Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, who I’ll refer to as Rinpoche from…

  • 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…

  • 5 Reasons Jews Gravitate Toward Buddhism

    In Jewish and Buddhist circles, there is the story of the Jewish woman who schleps to the Himalayas in search of a famous guru. She travels by plane, train and rickshaw to reach a Buddhist monastery in Nepal. When she gets there she’s shvitzing and exhausted but she is committed, and thankfully she is wearing…