The initial function of spirituality emerged from questioning the human condition and also from deep experiences of wonder. The word religion itself, initially meaning to “reconnect,” seems to have come from direct experiences of something larger than just a set of fixed ideas. It marked a return to something essential that we just failed to... Continue Reading →
Wonderment is a way of being. In wonderment we are interconnected with things as they are. It brings us to peace, openness and freedom. Through “not knowing” we access humility and awe Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel
When we are big enough for our world we feel fearless and empowered. We don’t feel alone. It is not just a matter of being kind or doing good in the world…it is also a matter of developing the mind of altruism…a bigger mind, which is courageous.In this way, bodhicitta is really the antidote for... Continue Reading →
“There is no one thing that can make us happy. When we expect stability from the world of things we make ourselves vulnerable to disappointment. When things change, a they inevitably do, we think the phenomenal world has turned on us, our bodies disappoint us , the pleasant feeling we got from our meditation session... Continue Reading →
One of my fav quotes The word "Empty" in Buddhism does not mean 'empty' 'nothing' or 'void' it rather refers to the nature of how every thing is interdependant and has no independent origin. Read more about it here
“There is no one thing that can make us happy. When we expect stability from the world of things we make ourselves vulnerable to disappointment. When things change, a they inevitably do, we think the phenomenal world has turned on us, our bodies disappoint us , the pleasant feeling we got from our meditation session... Continue Reading →
“There is no one thing that can make us happy. When we expect stability from the world of things we make ourselves vulnerable to disappointment. When things change, a they inevitably do, we think the phenomenal world has turned on us, our bodies disappoint us , the pleasant feeling we got from our meditation session... Continue Reading →
Prayer is a humble and intelligent way of asking for support for our aspirations and recognizing that we are not in total command of our world. Prayer, asking for help, is also a recognition that life is rich with resources for the aid of achieving our aspirations. - Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel
We may also want to combine aspiration and prayer and make aspirations and prayers for others welfare. This practice is particularly useful when we encounter something painful that we wish we could change but the situation seems so overwhelming we don’t even know where to begin. For example, the other day I was driving from... Continue Reading →
Having spent some “quality time” with whatever it is we have been trying to avoid, we may soon recognize that “it” is not actually a thing at all! We make it a thing. It’s like having some mouldy food at the back of the refrigerator that we don’t want to deal with, so we keep... Continue Reading →
In our pursuit of genuine wellbeing, if we are lucky, we will run into a quiet but potent irony: genuine happiness demands that we allow ourselves to feel “profound disappointment” in life. What I mean is that life doesn’t necessarily lend itself to our preferences. We are not in total command. Of course, the Buddha... Continue Reading →
What is aspiration and prayer? The word “aspiration” means to dream, to wish, to consider. When we make an aspiration we set ourselves in motion in the direction of our intentions. It’s like riding a bicycle--wherever we gaze, the bike tends to steer in that direction. Like that, by consciously making an aspiration we steer... Continue Reading →
"Doesn’t it seem that something positive always emerges from a broken heart? A tender heart has unlimited “give” while a brittle or contracted heart — a heart focused solely on me and mine — has no choice but to break. If we allow our heart to continuously break as a practice, we will make space... Continue Reading →
You might say that you have always been searching for grace. Whether or not we make a conscious choice to follow a lineage of wisdom or not, it has always been our natural inclination to bend toward wellbeing. Our search expresses itself the moment we are born into life and instinctively cry out to suckle... Continue Reading →
“They say there are 84,000 expressions of the Buddha’s wisdom, but what is the common thread that runs through all of these methods and teachings? The insight into dependent arising. To see the nature of dependent arising, pratityasamutpada, means to see things in context… in relationship. Nothing is self-defining because everything is conditioned by the... Continue Reading →
The term Middle Way is commonly misunderstood. We may interpret middle to mean “finding a balance.” For example, in the way that we might pursue, say, material fulfillment on the weekdays and try to balance that with something “spiritual” on the weekends. Or we may think the Middle Way refers to something in between two... Continue Reading →
If we think about it, life resists definition. How can we truly know things that continuously change, are impossible to pin down, and are always open to interpretation? Can we, for instance, ever reach absolute conclusions about the redness of a flower, a moment of grief, or the meaning of the universe? We’re lucky that... Continue Reading →
"But life is not something that happens to us. We can't separate ourselves from the constant stream of experience we call our life. We are not victims of our life, and we are not unworthy of our life either. Life is not too beautiful or divine for us. It is not too big or painful... Continue Reading →
