Buddhist Women on a Path of Spiritual Awakening
A Safe Domain: How the Quail Escaped a Hawk
The contemplative path of purifying the mind is the most important journey of all – inward. Just as the little quail that tricked a hawk, we no longer fall prey to the ‘maras’ of the world, safe in our proper ancestral domain of virtue….
The Inner Stopping
Wherever we go the mind does not remain happy – unless we fully awaken. How can we end the restless tides and remain inwardly stable, content within ourselves like the well-hewn wheel that stood still when it stopped rolling and did not fall down?…
Chopping and Burning the Tree of Emptiness
Too busy in the world, all entangled, we yearn to be free. So direct the mind to Nibbana – like a tree that leans to the East. And when it falls, it will fall in that direction. We too will arrive if we aim…
A Good Pair of Boots
We must not underestimate the significance of dedicating ourselves to the five precepts. Such a commitment to virtue provides a moral and ethical basis for life that will ultimately lessen our suffering. We find ourselves embodying qualities of truthfulness, kindness and care for ourselves…
Great Equanimity – Change for the Good
How can we learn to inhabit our bodies fully, to live with joy and wonder, and to die with a peaceful heart? If we can keep our feet inside the Buddha’s footprint, we will always be safe.
Speaking of violence
If we can deal with the craziness of the mind, we can help to decrease the craziness and violence of the world. But we have to be so patient and keep faith with the process of of cleaning up our own violence. Even when…
Great Equanimity – Change for the Good
How can we learn to inhabit our bodies fully, to live with joy and wonder, and to die with a peaceful heart? If we can keep our feet inside the Buddha’s footprint, we will always be safe.
Practise like the barley reaper
In a dialogue between King Milinda and Venerable Nagasena, we hear the Buddha’s instruction on mental training and how to apply our allies of mindfulness, restraint and wisdom. Devoted to the training, we can overcome ignorance, take hold of the mind and cut off the defilements…
Secure connection, free roaming
Removing our harness to the world, we really detach and make the intention in the mind to stop. Having moved inwardly into this now moment, we pause and secure our internal connection to truth. This work requires our faith, vigilance, sustained attention, care and…
Four astounding things
Four astounding things happen when the Buddha teaches the Dhamma. When he teaches about non-attachment, people want to listen and to understand how to give up attachment. When he teaches about the removal of conceit, people lend ear and try to understand it. People delight…
~ Dhammapada Verse 54