Accessing dhyana (jhana), or absorption, seems to be very natural for some people, and a complete mystery to others. Dhyana is well worth cultivating as a way of deepening shamatha (mental tranquillity) as well as for the sheer psycho-somatic pleasure that some of these states afford. On this retreat, we’ll be suggesting approaches that […]
Flagging up these dates for my forthcoming December weekend workshop for Order members and mitras at the Manchester Buddhist Centre. I'll share full details as soon as the theme is settled. Both days will start at 10.30 am and finish at 4.00 pm. Booking is now available on the website link below. Watch this space! […]
The Satipatthana Sutta, one of the most influential of the Buddha’s discourses, shows how wakeful, insightful attention to body, feelings and mind can enable us to wake up to our true nature. This radically transformative teaching is described as a ‘direct path’ to the cessation of suffering. Offering effective approaches that address the alienation and […]
In essence, ‘simply being’ evokes the effortless flow of embodied presence. Presence is this ‘timeless moment’, where there is no observer nor observed, no subject or object. It is always unconditionally ‘here’. Yet, we remain ignorant of it owing to the deep conditioning of our self-narratives. Nevertheless, it is what we are and we […]
Seven days of meditation, lively exploration, and strong, supportive friendship: a space to explore why the wisdom of emptiness is, precisely, compassion. Led by Tejananda, with Kusalacitta leading ritual and meditation in the afternoon slot *** The Heart Sutra is one of the most familiar of all Buddhist texts and, inevitably, there are innumerable takes […]
Body Heart Mind Awake – taking the backward step This is my first 'personal' online retreat, exploring the title I've given to my website. Mind is usually taken to mean all kinds of mental activity, but what we’re interested in here is ‘mind itself’ – the awake, aware quality of mind. Awakeness is here […]
In Zen, a sesshin is a period of especially intense all-the-time formal practice. For three days on this retreat, we will adopt - and adapt - this approach. Each day, there will be several two-hour periods of sitting and walking, and we’ll be opening to the presence of awareness in all of our activities […]
The well-known metaphor of ‘a finger pointing at the moon’ is itself a pointer to something essential in dharma practice. It suggests ‘don’t mistake the finger for the moon’. But what is the moon, and what is the finger? The finger could be taken as whatever gets us looking and going in the ‘right’ direction. […]
Our ‘precious human body’ is the first and most important foundation not just of mindfulness, but of meditation and Dharma practice as a whole. The teaching of the Buddha’s ‘Three Bodies’ (trikaya) suggests that there is far, far more to the body than meets the eye. These could be summarised as the bodies of truth […]
The Heart Sutra is one of the most familiar of all Buddhist texts and, inevitably, there are innumerable takes on ‘what it means’. How do we square the opening statement that the skandhas (our psycho–physical constituents) are ‘empty’ with the following one that ‘in emptiness’ there are no skandhas, no senses, no conditioned–arising? Early western […]
Accessing dhyana (jhana), or absorption, seems to be very natural for some people, and a complete mystery to others. Dhyana is well worth cultivating as a way of deepening shamatha (mental tranquillity) as well as for the sheer psycho-somatic pleasure that some of these states afford. On this retreat, we’ll be suggesting approaches that people […]
‘Simply being’ points to the aliveness and awakeness that we can recognise at any moment. It’s an openness to full presence, our full being - in body, senses and awareness. It points to being what we really are, beyond conceptual fabrication. In recognising and opening to the steady and spacious aspects of experience here […]
