THE GOAL
Most people have little or no idea about the goal of Buddhism. When I realised this, I published the book “Not Everything is Impermanent”. Most people said, “But I thought that Buddhism taught that everything is impermanent.” Only those who
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Dragons also take refuge in Amida Buddha. The dragons are proud of their role as defenders of the Dharma. They roar around on their motorbikes and scare off ghosts, demons and anyone who seems to represent a threat. However, all these threats only ex
SHARING: SOME INITIAL POINTS
Recently I was involved in a discussion about “oneness”. Clearly, to some people in the Buddhist world, oneness is a big number. However, it is not always that clear what people mean by this idea and it may be that diffe
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This morning my homily to the dragons was on kindness. After all, dragons must learn kindness too and they have their special contribution. The Dharma is not just about kind folk remaining kind nor just nice people being nice. Buddha nature will alw
Much of what I have learnt as Buddhism over the years appears to be topsy-turvy. Although there is a well established idea of what Buddhism is, this is deceptive. There is a hidden meaning within Buddhism that most do not see. The hidden meaning is
EMPTINESS
Buddhism talks a good deal about shunyata, emptiness. What is this emptiness? The earliest Buddhist texts provide a psychology of what we could call the point mind - a mind without content. Our modern (and later Buddhist) psychologies speak
Read more…Buddhist Psychology has what we in the West might call behavioural, cognitive, humanistic and analytical aspects all together in a single system. In other words, it deals with all aspects of the process of internalising experience and turning it int
Read more…I could have called this ZT Skills, but I don’t like the idea of reducing therapy to a set of skills, as though you could build it up like a set of lego bricks. Rather it is an art. To play music you might need certain abilities with a keyboard or se
Read more…I may be wrong. I am not an economist and even the experts cannot predict with certainty. However, as I have said before, I think we are on the brink of an economic crash. What is different about this crash is that we have not really recovered from
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In Buddhist psychology, the aim is somewhat different from most Western psychology. The latter aims to make the person self-assertive, self-sufficient, self-esteeming, and even self-entitled. This is expressed in such phrases such as “You deserve it,
Buddha came from a “yellow” race, Jesus and Mahommet from a “brown” one. Nobody who claims to follow in the footsteps of these great teachers should be making decisions based on a hierarchy of skin colour. They didn’t. They gave teachings that were u
Read more…TEXT
上士闻道，勤而行之；
中士闻道，若存若亡；
下士闻道，大笑之。
不笑不足以为道。
故建言有之：
明道若昧，进道若退，夷道若纇。
上德若谷；大白若辱；
广德若不足；建德若偷；
质真若渝。
大方无隅；大器晚成；
大音希声；大象无形；
道隐无名。
夫唯道，善贷且成。
TRANSLATION
上士闻道，勤而行之；
When a superior person hears of the Tao, he diligently puts it into practice.
中士闻道，若存若亡；
When a middling
BREXIT
Brexit’s not a cereal to eat before your lunch;
not a tasty, crispy treat that you can bite and crunch.
Brexit is catastrophe that hits you in the wallet
and if you are a business man you feel it like a bullet.
It does not care for industry, j
Read more…BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY
On the one hand, Buddhism is a broad church or umbrella under which many diverse ideas and methods can cluster. Currently there are many popular methods that have some Buddhist connection. Thus we have mindfulness, qi gong, and ra
Read more…SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS IS NOT MEDITATION
We should ask ourselves, what is meditation, really? Meditation is surely not sitting still and silent while one’s mind wanders all over, even if, from time to time, one achieves some self-consciousness of what is
TEXT
反者道之动，
弱者道之用。
天下万物生于有，
有生于无
TRANSLATION
Moved by Tao one returns
Used by Tao one is meek
All beings under Heaven are born from desire
Yet desire is born from emptiness.
COMMENTARY
Some translators render the last line “something is born from nothin
Read more…TEXT
昔之得一者，天得一以清；
地得一以宁；神得一以灵；
谷得一以盈，万物得一以生；
候王得一以为天一正。
其致之也，
谓天无以清，将恐裂；
地无以宁，将恐废；
神无以灵，将恐歇；
谷无以盈，将恐竭；
万物无以生，将恐灭；
候王无以正，将恐蹶。
故贵以贱为本，高以下为基。
是以候王自称孤、寡、不谷。
此非以贱为本邪？非乎？
故至誉无誉。
是故不欲琭琭如玉，珞珞如石。
TRANSLATION
昔之得一者，天得一以清
In the past things were at one (with the Tao) ; Hea
I am often asked how one can select a good teacher. How is one to know if somebody is genuine or not? This seems to be a big worry for some people. They are wary of being tricked. For Western people to give up even a smidgen of their independence is
Read more…In Buddhism there is a theory of conditioning. All conditioned things are impermanent. Buddhism is a religion that is about transcending impermanence and reaching the Deathless - nirvana. However, by definition, one cannot reach the unconditioned sim
Read more…BRINGING TWO IDEAS TOGETHER
Koans are usually associated with Zen and the term Anjin is usually associated with Pureland so nobody ever writes about a relationship between them. However, if we pan back and look at the general configuration of Buddhis
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