"Come and see."-The Buddha During my recent pilgrimage to Nepal, I found myself being asked a question that I had never really considered before. "What Buddhist tradition do you follow?" At first, I wasn’t sure how to answer. Over three weeks I spent fourteen days in Kathmandu and four days in Lumbini, the birthplace of Read More
Stillness Haiku | Buddhism and Ageing
Reflection on Buddhism and Ageing As a child I remember wishing time away. School holidays seemed endless, birthdays took forever to arrive and adulthood felt impossibly distant. Now the years seem to pass with astonishing speed. Yet instead of resisting that change, my Buddhist practice has gradually helped me accept it. Impermanence is no longer Read More
Do You Have To Be A Buddhist To Meditate
"Can meditation exist without religion?" It is a question I have been asked several times, and one that has become increasingly relevant as meditation has grown in popularity through mindfulness apps, wellbeing programmes and modern psychology. Before answering it, I find myself thinking about something much broader. Mindfulness. Wellbeing. Spirituality. Religion. Meditation. Can any one Read More
Stillness Haiku| Mindfulness in Nature
Mindfulness in nature can be observed as well as experienced. Try watching a heron standing like a statue, a hawk hovering above a prey, a nervous deer in long grass.
Joy or Happiness? A Puzzle From the Ānāpānasati Sutta
“Breathing in, I experience joy. Breathing out, I experience joy.Breathing in, I experience happiness. Breathing out, I experience happiness."— Ānāpānasati Sutta One of the pleasures of my Buddhist practice is that the more I read, the more questions I seem to discover. Recently I have been reading Awakening of the Heart by Thích Nhất Hạnh, Read More