Macclesfield videos/audios – a great dharma tree to explore

From 2003 James taught in Macclesfield either once or twice a year. Originally when he came up he taught in a little room above pizza express, then in a park building and in a hospital out-building.  After that the group of practitioners in Macclesfield had the use of a building which became a buddhist centre…

For about a decade Chris Coppock, who was a major contributor to this, made audio recordings of the talks which James gave… and also made (along with Charles Lomas) some video-recordings.

Thanks to Pedro and Barbara this set of recordings is now available within the complete collection on James’ YouTube channel .  
(Videos posted prior to December 2002 are included are still available on the  Vimeo collection)

Due to causes and conditions that buddhist centre eventually folded but happily James continued to journey north and teach in different venues, annually, since then.

 Over two decades, James took us along in the dharma stream opening up and elucidating different aspects to us. Beginning with little knowledge of the dharma and what it offered we became able to follow and change and grow out of, at least some of, our limiting old ideas about how ‘things’ are.

Some people are using these audio and video teachings as a way to study so to make it easier to see and hear how the talks evolved as we did, I have grouped what’s available in this set of teachings together on this page. 
I hope you enjoy the journey as much as i have done!

In this short and sweet video James offers an introductory explanation as to how we become confused… and the freedom of the view of Dzogchen, to which all his videos audios and texts relate. 

 

 

In the Macclesfield set, we have so far :

1. View of Dzogchen                                                                                Nov 2003

The beginning: explaining how the dzogchen view fits with the other teachings in buddhism. As you listen you may begin to sense how this right this engagement could be for you. The possibility of …’freedom is our birthright’…is scented in the air.

 audio  only                                                                                        

 

2. Focussing and Distraction – Dzogchen practice                             July 2004

Without realising and activating our capacity to choose whether or not to identify with arising thoughts we have little freedom.

Like preoccupied puppets we are pulled by the strings of internal forces and external triggers which drive us into reactivity. 

Practices such as following the flow of the breath on the upper lip help develop a clear attention, and bring the calmness and perspective necessary for a more intentional and pro-active life.

audio  only                                                                                                            

 

3. Living with Anxiety and Doubt                                                February 2005

Most of us have a lot of worries and anxiety in our lives. James explains the traditional Nyingmapa understanding of the nature of anxiety, the structures underpinning its development, and shows how meditation can help us cut through the root of that development.

In practicing  different meditations, we can offer a more open precise and present attention to the complex circumstances of daily existence. We can then work more easily with everyday moments of anxiety and confusion.

audio  only                                                                                                

 

4. Wisdom and Compassion                                                                   May 2006

Explaining the two truths: how it appears…the imagined illusion, and how things are…the ultimate truth.

That real compassion arises from wisdom i.e. from realising the ultimate truth and then helping others realise their true nature.

So getting to know your own mind, letting go of the knot of dualism, and not being distracted is vital…   

audio only                                                                                                        

 

5. Lojong – Mind training                                                                         Dec 2006

audio    videos – YouTube      vimeo (x3)                                                                            

 

6. The Transmission of  Flow and the Flow of Transmission         June 2007

Considering the nature of lineage, its function and importance…and continuity
James refers to a short text by Saraha, ‘The Treasury of Songs’, which is included in his book ‘Simply Being’.

audio   videos-YouTube  or   vimeo (x3)                                                                                  

 

7. Clearing the Clutter                                                                  November 2007

audio    video-YouTube or  vimeo  (x3)                                                                      

 

8. Basic Buddhism practiced with a dzogchen view                     March 2008

audio     videos – Youtube  or vimeo videos (x3)    

How the preliminary practices in Tibetan buddhism can be taken up and made use of within the dzogchen view                                                                       

 

9. Refuge is Liberation                                                                             Nov 2008

Teaching on Garab Dorje’s ‘Three Points’ as the essence of refuge

Using the three statements as a base for exploring dzogchen, view and practice…

the view shifts from  fusion… to dualistic intention… to non-dual liberation

 

audio    videos                                                                     

 

10. Love, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity                                       June 2009
– The Four Immeasurables

The deep meaning of the  ‘Four Brahmaviharas’, which is found in all schools of buddhism, is expounded here… with the accompanying prayer.

Wishing for all beings to rest in the integration of their natural condition and that the obstacles to this may dissolve.

Then, seeing the equality and insubstantial nature of what our conditioning would denote as ‘good’ and ‘bad’, we practice remaining relaxed and open with whatever occurs.

audio     video                                                                                      

 

11. Four Foundations of Mindfulness – a dzogchen perspective      Jan 2010

Mindfulness is explored from different perspectives including psychotherapy, theravada and dzogchen. With mindfulness we can become intentionally attentive and careful so we are no longer at the mercy of whatever is happening. From the view of dzogchen we can be in the movement of the world as it changes… and remind ourselves to relax back into integration.

audio      videos – YouTube  or   vimeo                                                                                                  

 

12. Working with Change and Impermanence                                   Nov 2010

Exploring how my behaviour is generated from the belief that I have a fixed internal ‘essence of me’ 
… and how my belief that there are self-existent ‘things’ in the world keeps me trapped in reactivity.

As we meditate, and thoughts feeling and sensations arise and pass, we experience that change is the basis of our existence.

If we can see that we are change – that who I am is co-created – then we can inhabit our existence freed from the trap of trying live to life on our own terms. 

audio         video                                                                                             

 

13.   The Illusory nature of Experience                                           March 2012

The text of the Heart Sutra, which is the basis for this talk, begins ‘Form is not other than emptiness, emptiness not other than form’.

It continues in is way expounding the true nature of all phenomena, including what we take to be ourselves.

This is so very other than we how habitually imagine it to be and James explains freshly, clearly, and accessibly.

audio      video                                                                                 

 

14.    Integrating openness and presence                                        Feb 2013

Explaining how wisdom and compassion can be activated in our own existence.

Seeing that the compassion which arises from through understanding the illusory nature of phenomena is not artificial…

that the openness, the radiance,  and the arising gesture are integrated.

This talk includes the  practice of tong-len

audio  only                                                                                                     

 

15. Balancing Relaxation and Effort in Buddhism                              Feb 2014

We can see how effortfully attempting to stabilise that which is inherently unstable will be exhausting and ineffective.

So, on retiring from that struggle, how do we make the appropriate shifts between agency – the assertion of energy… and plasticity – where we allow ourselves to be moulded by circumstances? 

Looking at how space allows us to see clearly…and how, by relaxing into our potential, our potential can be activated into the situation with finesse.    

audio    only                                                                                                        

 

16. Staying Open to Life as it is                                                              Feb  2015

The world impacts us and influences us as it flows into us through our sense organs…

and we influence the world by being part of it, like a stream of many potentials within a bigger river.

Exploring how observing yourself as you are, being kind to yourself and letting yourself reveal yourself… is the way to make life easy… 

audio  only                                                                                                  

 

17. Buddhism and creativity                                                                   Feb 2016

Buddhism would say that ethics is the basis for the forms of our experience…

That due to causes and conditions we inhabit a particular vision, a mental construct created from a configuration of many factors. 

Exploring this and seeing how meditation brings the spaciousness and flexibility needed to respond easily in interaction with the world. 

audio only                                                                                                     

 

18. Dissolving attachment in the openness of being                          Feb 2017

Dissolving attachment in the openness of being. Dzogchen practice focuses on avoiding hanging on to what we like and pushing away what we don’t like. This is supported by the mindfulness that helps us avoid falling asleep in the process of living. Being undistracted is simply talking with full attention when you are talking, walking with full attention when walking etc.

audio        video                                                                                         

 

19. Working with Life and Death                                                      March 2018

Many different ideas exist about what happens at death which direct our intentionality in this life.

Here James explores what buddhism has to bring to these ideas and explains the traditional view of what the mind is and also what is  consciousness.

Including the nature of the death process and how we might work with that.

audio                                                                                                    

 

20.  Balance in Turbulent times                                                              Feb 2019

Attempts to withdrawal from the turbulence or to control the mind are actions which increase our sense of separation.

With the Mahayana view we are looking at how our mind is rather than focusing on its impermanent contents.

Through meditation we are seeking to open to that which is stable…an invitation, explanation and practice.

audio                                                                                                         

 

21. Kindness, Fellow Feeling and the Common Weal                       Feb 2020

Loving kindness, karuna, is the foundational attitude of Buddhism. Kindness sees all life as kind, as kin, as always-already-connected. With this view the barrier between self and other shrinks and we become inclusive in everything we do. This is deepened and supported by the wisdom of seeing our mind as it actually is.

audio     video                                                                                          

 

22. Finding Refuge and Spreading Light                       Jan 2023

Finding enduring refuge in the intrinsic purity of our own mind. 

audio video