‘Don't make decisions on the strength of desires. Desires can puff us up into thinking we are something we're not.’ Ajahn Chah

Ésta será probablemente la última charla de sábado por la noche que daré durante bastante tiempo. He recibido noticias de mi hermana en Inglaterra de que nuestra madre está muy enferma y todo indica que no vivirá más de unos meses, así que planeo volar a Inglaterra en...

‘It's nearly the future’ Zen Graffiti

I discovered “do-nothing” farming in my reading of Masanobu Fukuoka, author of One Straw Revolution and one of the pioneers of natural farming and permaculture. After farming for six years with his words in my heart, I have found that Fukuoka’s “do nothing” does not...

Watch your thoughts; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become stories. Watch your stories; they become excuses. Watch your excuses; they become relapses. Watch your relapses; they become dis-eases. Watch your dis-eases; they become vicious cycles. Watch your...

In our culture, people find it difficult to direct loving-kindness to themselves. We may feel that we are unworthy, or that it’s egotistical, or that we shouldn’t be happy when other people are suffering. So rather than start loving-kindness practice with ourselves,...

‘In the absence of thought-coverings he has not been made to tremble, he has overcome what can upset, in the end sustained by Nirvana.’ Heart of Perfect Wisdom

Pema Chödrön: There’s an ideal in the Buddhist teachings called the bodhisattva. Bodhisattvas are people whose purpose in life is to alleviate suffering. The main thing they want to do is soothe the sorrows of the world. I’m sure that Father Gregory does not like to...

‘Joy is not something we can grasp and hold on to, it comes and goes like spring rain, softening everything.’ John Aske

Most of us start to practice Buddhism because we feel dissatisfied and disillusioned with life, in a general way or for some specific reason. Indeed, it is rare to meet someone who has turned to the dharma simply out of curiosity and not because of a real need to...