Buddhist Women on a Path of Spiritual Awakening
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…
We are not separate at all
During times of global pandemic, it’s easier to see how deeply connected we are in our vulnerability to disease. Meditating and touching the silent space of the heart, we see how deeply connected we are at all times – connected in dis-ease; in fear, in…
Empty the Basket – Guided Meditation and Reflections
Let us hone our expertise to witness the charade of gain and loss arising each moment. Seeing the eight worldly winds, impermanent, not giving in when the mind perches in ‘self’, purify wrong view, empty the basket, and begin here where we are, balanced,…
Into the Quiet – Guided Meditation and Reflections
We go forth into the quiet of the heart, distant from the world, to glimpse the Unconditioned. We are alone but we are as if with all beings. There is no ‘one’ who wakes up, there is just awakening. It is freeing and it’s…
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 Cry of Surprise
In the inner sea, we know what is truly true. Knowing is the mother, breathing is the child. Going beyond past hurts, beyond thought, being old or young, desolate or delighted, go even beyond Covid, there in the timeless emptiness of present moment awareness…
The Quail’s Tale – A Path to Harmlessness
Praising Truth for its own sake, we lean in the direction of Truth. We make our intention not to harm by body, speech, or thought. Harmlessness leads to selflessness. Selflessness leads to the Deathless. To boundless compassion. This will save us from the flames…
The bricks and mortar of forgiveness
A short reflection on forgiveness – what we can do when we just can’t forgive? How do we deal with difficult past relationships when forgiveness seems impossible? If we can examine our expectations in relationship and our capacity to forgive when others have let us…
~ Dhammapada Verse 54