Buddhist Women on a Path of Spiritual Awakening
The Poison Arrow
Stokes Valley Monastery Retreat, New Zealand The poison arrow of ignorance spreads its toxins through passion, desire and ill will. By sitting still, applying mindfulness and surrendering to what is, the right view will illuminate our minds and will help us extract the arrow…
I Just Wanted Some Toothpaste
Birth, aging, death, pain, sorrow, lamentation are all dukkha. There is pain and there is the way out of pain. That is the cultivation of the Noble Eightfold Path. By sitting, accepting and letting go, we walk the Middle Way and follow the laws…
How Do I Know I’m Deluded?
A breakthrough step on the spiritual path is realizing just how deluded we really are – otherwise we would not have to seek happiness outside ourselves. To see our true state of mind, we have to properly investigate and honestly peel away the layers…
Sacred Heart: First Inside the Temple
Within us we have a sacred space that we need to reclaim – the very space inside the heart. Here the Four Noble Truths come to life. Know our suffering, not blaming anyone or any conditions for it, see its origin within us, and…
First Aid
To free us from our relentless conceptualising and the suffering that comes of it, the Buddha has thrown us a lifeline. We can grab hold of it by continually using the perspective that “this is impermanent”, and thereby we can pull ourselves to safety….
Taking Emptiness Home
To carry the teachings home means we are committed to treasuring virtuous conduct and speech as well as wholesome states of mind in daily life where conditions are not as perfect for practice. We empty ourselves of self-centerdness to embody more and more the…
Baptismal Breath: Guided Meditation
See present moment experience in its most simple expression so as to notice the breakdown of all fearsome qualities. This seeing is insight which delivers us from the conceptual prison of beliefs into the freedom of direct intuitive understanding. A talk given at Insight…
The Night of the Poison Arrow
How to guard the mind against the hindrances and pull out the poison arrow of craving. A talk given at Insight Meditation Society, Massachusetts, USA in 2019.
The Winds of Change
We are here, on the mountain, with a tremendous view. Let the breath speak to us. Stay and watch, even the suffering, investigate patiently like a parent, even if their child objects and runs away – patiently keep trying, be receptive, be available. Gently…
~ Dhammapada Verse 54