Category: Uncategorized

As a recent homework, Katie was asked to devise an athletics game to keep healthy.  A copy of the rules for it turned up in the front room a while later, just on their own.  Taken out of their original context they actually made pretty good reading in their own right – perhaps as advice…

Years ago I was sent a short video taken by a student visiting Bodhicharya Retreat Centre in Sikkim with Ringu Tulku.   It was on the Bodhicharya email list – maybe you saw it too?  The filming followed Rinpoche’s footsteps as he walked down the winding forest trail to the retreat centre.  As I watched the…

When did you get the wake-up call? At the end of the 70s when I was working for Air France as a steward I became aware I had to find the answers to the metaphysical questions I had been asking myself since childhood, it was becoming urgent, it was impossible for me to spend all…

Throes of Upheaval We live in troubled times; ecologically, socially, politically and economically, our planet seems to be in the throes of upheaval. In a constantly changing world many of us may feel that life is increasingly out of our control as we struggle to maintain a sense of order and harmony. Nevertheless, in times…

An enforced week of being stuck indoors, due to illness, had me reflecting on an email I received recently from a friend.  My friend had attended a large Buddhist gathering which, on the whole, she had enjoyed but she also wrote, ‘I didn’t feel there was much kindness going on’.  Her words struck a cord…

Where the fountains of passion Lie Deep The heavenly springs Are soon dry Self Importance Recently I found myself fiercely determined to be ‘in the right’. As I tried to maintain my argument I became aware that I was feeling off balance, hot and bothered. As I stuck passionately to a favoured theory I realized…

Not Enough Time Picture the scene in my flat earlier today. I am sitting quietly sipping my breakfast tea when the phone rings and at the same time my front door buzzes. I know I have an appointment in an hour and had not planned on these diversions from my timetable. Suddenly the sense I…

There are many different responses to the pressing ecological and human disasters that beset humanity in the new century. Protesters of globalization, whether peaceful or violent represent only some of the most vocal. Differing perceptions of the ecological crises and the causes generate different responses. At the “shallow” end there is the short-term, superficial reformist…

Life is constant change, right? We all know this. Sometimes change comes of its own accord and sometimes we just make it happen. This happened to me last year when I was given the opportunity to take early retirement from my job in the Scottish Government and I decided to go for it. The idea…

No summits, no NATO, No instant mashed potato Just winkle A twinkle, From that gloomy face, No DJs, no jingles, No dreadful charity singles, Teeth gleaming, Get beaming, And smile all over the place. Victoria Wood Lightness of Heart Often we look for happiness outside of ourselves—through material things or by wishing that our lives…

In 2004 I started as a teacher of English and Fine Art at a special school in Aachen, Germany.  Our school is a night-school where lessons are from 5 to 9.50 p.m and our students are mostly young adults.  The youngest admitted are 17 years old, the oldest I ever taught were a Russian couple of…

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…

Reaching Out A patient of mine once told me “It’s a lonely word, isolation, on bad days it seems to envelop me like a smothering blanket cutting off sustaining air.  Once I liked to be alone with my books and music, then, private time away from people and pressures provided nourishment for my soul.… Solitude…

   An Innovative Dharma Venture in the Centre of France For the last few decades,  particularly with the arrival in the West of  Zen and Tibetan Masters, together with the strong aura of HH the Dalaï Lama, many Westerners (among whom many French people) have embraced Buddhism. With the setting up of Buddhist centres of various…

sunset over Gangtok On day 4 of the conference, Robert Thurman took the chair for the topic: ‘Science, Art and Meditation’ The term Meditation is used in dozens of contexts by many different types of people and for many  different reasons – from healthcare professionals in body spars to those masters in the search for…

As we moved into the topic Understanding  Mind,  Robert Thurman, Director of Buddhist Studies at Columbia University gave an outline of the workings of mind in lay Buddhist terms, and spoke of Buddha as scientist,  spiritual teacher and educator.  In his view  Buddhism is a sophisticated depth psychology, as Buddha discovered the subconscious a millennia…