Buddhist Women on a Path of Spiritual Awakening
I Sit Here In Blessing
How can we care for ourselves and each other, using our formal meditation practice as a template for daily living? As we sit for meditation, mark an intuitive pathway through painful, burdensome mind states, teaching the mind to purify itself with every breath. Gradually,…
Softly Close The Gates
There is so much for us to understand. Preparing yourselves for that unfolding of wisdom, take your rightful seat in a balanced way and follow the path inward. Softly close off all the gates and give your full attention and energy to the mind’s…
Baptism of Fire
Sometimes it takes an illness or a loss to wake up. The wheel of Dhamma turns us towards the centre point, where all the mind’s movements are stilled so that we can see the truth of suffering. Fear arises but we can observe it…
The Nimitta of Suffering
When we’re out of balance, it’s due to the worldly winds. Even if you call them Dhamma winds, they end up being worldly – as soon as we grasp them, we’re back in samsara and we’re circling. The ending of circling always begins within…
The Value of Death
This path takes us to our true home through cultivating sanctity, and understanding the value of death: the death of greed, hatred and delusion. When we see all things as impermanent, death gives definition to our life. It delimits our experience. That’s how we…
Feast of Patience
Can we not give vent to the wanting mind, not blame conditions nor allow discontentment to grow? Develop patience and persevere on the path. Know things as they are and accept them. Patience is the highest austerity. So change gears, and move away from…
Wilderness Traveller
A dear friend, Malini Weerasooriya, was a worthy example to us of a daughter of the Buddha. Fearless, patient and joyous throughout her pains as she neared death, she embodied one who had found the way out of the wilderness of the mind driven…
Virtue Goes Full Circle
Virtue creates a force in the heart, a field of goodness, from generosity to joy to enlightenment. Bring each moment back to awareness. Once there is joy in the heart, the mind finds ease to go to its depths. Be your own doctor, self-examine,…
The Teacher is Present – Vesak Joy and Dhamma Refuge
To celebrate the Buddha’s life is to be his disciple in enlightenment. Every day becomes a day of Vesak when we emulate the Buddha’s virtues and follow his gradual training in Dhamma-Vinaya and spiritual warrior-ship. We vow to purify the mind, realize the vision…
Spiritual Athlete
Every Canadian knows Terry Fox, a teenage athlete who lost his leg to cancer, continued to train as a runner and ran across Canada with one leg before he succumbed to his illness. His mission was to raise money for cancer research so others…
~ Dhammapada Verse 54