Buddhist Women on a Path of Spiritual Awakening
Fictitious Noodles: The Fake News of Old Fears
What are we doing on this planet? How do we cope with feelings of fear? Can we observe wisely and penetrate through the fictions of the mind? To abandon them, we must understand them. Ayyā Medhānandī coaches us to investigate emotions like fear and…
Holding the Lotus to the Rock
Sariputta said (SN 21.1): “There is nothing in the world with whose change there would arise in me sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair.” It is hard to remember the Buddha’s teachings when the mind is beset with fear and anxiety. But we can…
In the Stream of the Noble Ones
Two overarching supports for gaining the fruits of the Path are mental purity and spiritual friendship. Consummate virtue and prize virtuous friends, the highest being the Blessed One himself. Emulate his conduct and mental practices in everyday life. Gradually transform mundane right view into…
Even as a Mother
How can we love everything the same? How can we come to a place of pure love within us so that whatever energy is arising in the heart, we can receive it, and we can accept it fully. We don’t have to run away…
Where the Flame of Truth Burns Bright – Reflections & Guided Meditation
Dhamma is like mother, father, guardian, the Truth that we can rest in. So rest in the purity of one moment. Offering to listen, what is the message we receive? In the silence of the mind, what do we hear? If there is no…
I Sit Here In Blessing – Guided Meditation
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…
~ Dhammapada Verse 54