Wendy

What can we do to help?

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Buddha on Water.jpg

In the time that the historical Buddha was teaching he had some interactions with a certain King Udayana
This king was about to go to war… again!
He had won all his previous battles and was confident that his next venture would, doubtless, have a successful outcome…
Although, within relative reality, some might see that it’s usual in battles for many people on both sides to die, so many in the ensuing generations are marked by and carry the emotional fall-out…resources are squandered, the land is scarred…and there is action and reaction pulsing through time… from this king’s position all that was irrelevant.
He had yet to encounter any dharma teachings so in his opinion he was truly ‘a winner’… his kingdom would surely increase in size, riches and power… so why hold back?

The Buddha knew that now was the time to engage with this particular King, and was very skilful in working with his intention ….
Having shocked the King by the way he repulsed his attack ( the King had regarded his arrival as a bad omen)… from the Buddha’s unshakeable position of equanimity free from aversion (having realised the basis of all phenomena) he was able to work with the king’s pride…inviting him to engage with a far greater challenge – that of defeating the greatest enemy …
The king’s curiosity was piqued… and with that he started to listen to what the Buddha had to say…and began to examine his views and long held certainties under the different lenses of the profound teachings being offered for his benefit and the benefit of many others…including… us!

If you are wondering whether I just made this up …you too can now read the Mahayana Sutra, Advice to a King 2, Advice to Udayana King of Vatsa and check.
You’ll find the whole of the sutra on that link and see that what I’ve written is my interpretation… by way of an introduction to this sutra. It is freshly translated, just this July, and published by the group 84000 Translating the Words of the Buddha …. along with other translations, including the sutra Advice to a King 1 which the Buddha gave to his friend King Bimbisara.

As the Buddha offered so many different teachings for different students at different times in different situations…it seems wonderful that these reliable translations are being brought out and offered freely, into connection with us and our world at this time…so we can read them or speak them out, and contemplate on the deep wisdom offered… and the manner of its presentation.

James recently mentioned how much richness of dharma is yet to be made available…for our benefit and that of others, in whatever our native language is… and was inviting us to consider how we might help.

Donating money towards those engaged in producing translation of such a high calibre as those of the 84000 is just one such possibility…
If it should appeal to you’ll see on their site they offer different ways to do this… including doubling the impact of any regular donation.

There are other groups e.g. The Padmakara group, also offering similar high quality, group worked and peer reviewed translations. That the source of the translation is of such quality is vital for we dharma students… A deep understanding of the way both languages are used by native speakers… and a deep understanding of the dharma, as close as possible to that of the depth of the meaning of the text…will offer the greatest clarity

Clearly there are many different ways of bringing our life energy into connection with the world, inspired by the dharma…People are writing, talking, teaching, transcribing, typing, translating (lots of t’s!)… involved in art, making music, tsa-tsas, earth pots and so on… we find our own way for this to flower
Grand or overtly dharmic gestures may not be called for… communal litter-picking was another of James’ suggestions – decreasing a sense of hopelessness and passivity by increasing connectivity, sharing and participating free from judgment and with the warmth of an open heart… whatever is fitting is perfect.

Image from 84000 translation July update.

The 5th and final part of the Introduction to Sharp Weapon Wheel , including the Foreword to the text by C.R Lama

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This recording is now available from the audio/video tab

As I edit these recordings I pay particular attention to different aspects of the wave-form – the amplitude, which indicates the variation in loudness…the clarity…the clicks, crackles, plosives and also the speed of delivery and length of spaces.
Knowing that the content is challenging enough in itself to engage with. . . I can modify all of these, or re-record words or phrases in an attempt to make it as clear, and ‘easy on the ear’, for you as possible.

This time, within the wave-form of the words with which James concludes his introduction to the text, I noticed (my mind construed from lines of different lengths) some particular patterns or shape-formations within the wave. For me, they evoked stupas resounding, and prayer-wheels resonating . . .
So I abstracted them, and turned them on their sides…adapting them, to better fit my projection and for this post! : )

The first is an image of the words ‘C.R. Lama opened the dazzling field of dharma to our world-weary eyes’
The words that come before that are ‘Giving everything… and asking for nothing except our own efforts on the path’. . .
The second image is of the words which follow that …’The kindness of the Guru can never be repaid!’

In this recording James explains how applying ourselves to these Mahayana teachings can help us to move to the ‘third stage of peaceful equanimity free of attraction and aversion’…and how this third stage may be ripened into full fruition…

Amaryllis flowering, recording completed, with infinite gratitude Saga Dawa 2024

Part 4 & Saga Dawa Düchen resounding ~ an invitation

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All compounded phenomena are unreliable and subject to change… garden ornament ‘buddhas’ are no exception !…but the absolute truth at the heart of the dharma teachings is uncompounded, satisfying and reliable in it’s unchanging nature…

The 84000 group is a non-profit organisation which translates the words of the Buddha.
They recently translated a very brief sutra, the Gold Sutra … and Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche is including a one hour teaching on that, entitled ‘Pure Gold’, in a session (as part of a longer teaching on Sadhana Practice) starting at 5pm IST on 22nd May (12.30 UK, I think).
This will be followed by a short resounding…where all who would like to, can join from wherever they are to recite the sutra together, no registration is necessary
I’ve participated in this in the past and found it a lovely thing to do. If you’re interested you can read the sutra and find out more about their work, and about resoundings on their website… 84000: Translating the words of the Buddha.

Contributing to the celebrations, the fourth part of James ‘Introduction to Sharp Weapon Wheel’ is now published here, under Audio/Video. The fifth and final section is recorded and will be available very soon.

Also, in case you haven’t noticed, the Commentary to Repelling all troubles is now published here with James blessing…and links to the text etc.
In Mahayana practice, what we do for one …we do for all. So, as troubles abound, this is a wonderful practice to have …and to practice for one and all.

Macclesfield talk 14 Integrating openness and presence (audio only) includes the practice of Tong Len, another way to work with the suffering of the world which can be very physical as explained there, or more subtly using just the breath as explained in Part 4 of the Introduction to Sharp Weapon Wheel.

Many different groups are working to bring about benefit to the world, in different ways… and with these and other practises, without becoming biased and judgmental in reification, we can be actively supportive of their efforts… and the welfare of all beings without exception.

Part 3 of 5 of Mistaken Identities – the Introduction to Sharp Weapon wheel

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‘Appreciation of all’

The dharma-medicine which enables us to free ourselves from samsaric suffering does not taste good to the ego-self with its notions of ‘I’m special, central, know what’s what…know good from bad … this story-line is true my identity ‘


However if we take the medicine, applying ourselves to it and it to us… we shine a light onto the beliefs upon which its apparent existence is founded… and begin to examine these and put their apparently inherent validity into question.

That any activity enacted within the duality of relative reality is ‘karmic activity’ is rarely heard in our world… nor are the consequences understood …

Happily, as we engage with the course of treatment, egoic-identification is deflated by wisdom… and the inflammation and irritation arising from the karmic provocations of the ‘Sharp Weapon’ in the text, diminish.
As an ’empty wheel’ among other ’empty wheels’… absent the five poisons concomitant with karmic intentionality, activity is also free… illusory.

With depth and clarity James explains how the medicine offered in the text can help to open us to our non-dual presence.

This section of the introduction is now available under audio/video on the menu > Finding Freedom (2) bar or here…

Maybe you’ll get it in one reading/listening …but for me it took time, and many readings for it to begin to sink in!

Thanks to Jean for the photo …

You’ve found a dharma easter-egg… of form and emptiness… the basis for ‘Repelling all troubles’

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When the post about the value of this text, Repelling all Troubles, was published back in October 2022 not everyone reading this post would have seen it.
When, later, James gave a commentary – a teaching on this ……some of you may have heard that… but others weren’t able to be there…or didn’t know about it.
Some who did have the luck to listen to the teaching live, may not be aware of the commentary which James gave a bit later on….and this is key for engaging effectively with the text.
Without this we may be merely reading, then repeating it like parrots.

Hearing a text like this can be a bit like being given a beautiful variegated lemon, which has yellow skin with green stripes.
Whilst we might appreciate the aesthetic beauty of the lemon and the generosity of the gift … unless we know something about this kind of lemon… it’s qualities and uses… we may just stick it in the fridge and use the ones we’re used to instead… or put it in the fruit-bowl or on a shelf where it will slowly moulder away.

This lemon with yellow skin with green stripes is a kind of Eureka lemon with pink flesh, perfect for making pink lemonade…but to do this, as with fully connecting with the text, we firstly have to squeeze the lemon!
If we approach it like a child might when being invited to squeeze the lemon…there’ll be a bit of a connection, the lemon will get warmer and maybe a bit softer, but no juice will come from it.

An adult might say ‘Ah we’ll need to use the lemon-squeezer to get the juice out… but first we have to cut the lemon in half, so I’ll help you with that bit. Good, now we have to push down and twist it onto this lemon-squeezer.’
The child pushes down but not much juice comes … but the adult applies more torsion and pressure and lots of juice comes out …and then a bit more as the skins are squeezed together by hand.
When the child tastes the neat juice it thinks ‘Yuk, I won’t bother doing that again! ‘…but then when the juice is sugared to taste and diluted think’s ‘Ok, I get it now…I see why we bothered, it’s delicious…’

The text, inviting equanimity on the basis of wisdom, is short but includes the Introductory prayers, Refuge and bodhicitta, the Seven branch prayer, the ‘Prayer of Aspiration for Happiness in the World’, the ‘Four Immeasurables’, and the Heart Sutra.
James’ commentary covers a vast amount of ground, so he is unpacking the meaning at speed…
yet though still condensed it is precise and clear and literally elucidates – brings light to it.
So as we engage with it as a vital adjunct to the text, the essential understanding of the non-duality of emptiness and form… and the orientation and efficacy of the text becomes clear.
With this we can extract the juice and use it beneficially… in our life and for all life.

James ends by hoping that we will practice the text …and enjoy practising the text! with a big smile!
I hope that bringing the different modes of accessing the text and commentary together here will make this easier to do.

Here’s a link to the Practice text – Repelling all troubles
Here’s the link to the video of the teaching Commentary on text – Repelling all troubles– zoom video
Here’s a link to the Transcription of the zoom commentary – Repelling all troubles by Paula Arinibar…revised and enlarged by James Low
Here’s the link to the original audio of Commentary on text – Repelling all Troubles I created this on the fly then edited it… but it was done quickly, and a better version is below.
Here’s the link to the Commentary to ‘Repelling all Troubles’…… the content is the same but I have made it easier to follow…by improving the sound and the spacing and rescuing some unclear words.

Introduction to ‘Sharp Weapon Wheel’ from the book Finding Freedom ~ Audio recordings

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Spring 2024

The book ‘Finding Freedom’ contains texts from the Theravadin Mahayana and Dzogchen traditions, translated by James Low. 

Each text is  preceded by a comprehensive introduction wherein James elucidates the depth and value inherent in these three approaches….
opening up access to the text itself, the richness of the view to which they relate…and also their connection.

This set of recordings is of the Introduction to the text ‘Sharp Weapon Wheel’  from  the middle Mahayana section, of  the book…
It is in five parts and followed by C.R. Lama’s foreword…as hopefully this will make it easier to engage with than one long recording.

Each of us finds our own way deeper into the dharma… in the foreword to this text C.R. Lama says   ‘the main teaching it gives is the cutting of the ego desire ignorance and so on’ …

How to  develop the necessary availability and insightfulness for the meaning to ‘seep into the marrow of our bones’?… this Introduction explains.

The final paragraph is ‘With this we can move to the third stage of peaceful equanimity free of attraction and aversion. For this to ripen into fruition we must plant the seed of enlightenment in the ever-available, ever-fecund ground of emptiness and water it daily with our loving heart.’

Blooming marvellous… !

Summer retreat – Emerson College 6-9 June

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In more recent years the Summer Retreat in Sussex has been held in a beautiful field.
Perfect if you are ‘camping hardy’ and enjoy it…but not so easy for some.
If you don’t have the gear and have to borrow or bring it with you on a plane or bus that can be a hassle…or maybe the body would not cope well.
Nearby and limited on-site accommodation bridged the gap for some.

However this year the retreat is being held back at the old venue at Emerson College, so if you’d like to come to this retreat in England… and camping in a field is not your bag… there are more options.

You’ll see on the organisers website that Huw is offering to organise luxury bell tents, all set up for when you arrive.

The college also offers three different types of ‘in house’ accommodation: 43 single rooms and 7 twin rooms – all with shared toilets and showers.  One of their student houses is fitted with a wheelchair toilet and shower. 

Huw has requested that if you are able to camp it would be kind to do as it leaves the indoor accommodation available for those who need it.

Camper-vans can also be accommodated.

For more information see the link under Events on the right of the home page here or on the Simplybeing website.

A Description of Zangdropalri…

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This recording completes the series of recordings from the book…Lotus Source…
It’s number 21… at the bottom of the series, which you’ll find with other recordings under audio/video from the menu bar

The text is an arrangement by James Low, adapted for this representation as an audio-recording …

It seems very wonderful to me that those who are engaged with this aspect of dharma, and hold the wisdom of the earlier chapters in their hearts, will be able to benefit from access to this practice – treasure.

Dharma can evoke rather different responses to events … than the usual worldly ones.
Nearly twenty years ago, when the consultant in the hospital’s emergency department was trying to lower my alarmingly high heart rate… he explained that, as he was going to use a chemical to actually stop my heart, I would shortly have a feeling of impending doom!
However my very happy thought was… oh wow! Great…what a perfect opportunity for practice…

I did so…and experienced the absolute opposite of doom!
I returned… to a lot of shouting … not with more faith… as that was a given, but having tried it in earnest, with complete confidence in that practice…

This completing text is now published, on this first day of this new year… of the wood-dragon

You probably know that there are dragons of many kinds…
I saw one once – this is a ‘true-story’ – and it’s out-breath was most unusual…a little bit like steam but not hot or damp, nor dense like smoke.
More like incense… ethereal, nebulous…very light textured, soft but not bright…ungraspable….yet refined and precious in quality.
This happened many years ago… I’d see this as a wisdom-dragon…and the out-breath…the breath of dharma flowing out into this troubled world…

So wishing you a Happy New Year, Happy Losar…. and Happy new you, Happy new me, Happy new moment. May we have the blessing of many more happy new years, giving us time to deepen our practice, before it’s our time to go. And may our wise teachers…long keep breathing out…and in, the freshness of the dharma!

Aspiration for Zangdopalri

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This recording, no.20 in the Lotus Source recordings, is now available for you to listen to.

The place, evoked in the mind by this text, is free of samsaric taints…it is so very beautiful and delightful …

It’s a place where all the difficulties which impede our awakening no longer function… and where all the factors which can ease our awakening are present…in infinite abundance.

As it says in the text ‘to hear of it awakens great happiness in the mind’ ‘even to think of it is to be freed from suffering’ ‘when you see it, you will wish to go there’

From whence arises this description? Some dharma travel guide?
Is the invitation to go there a casual one… just some words written by someone, in a book…?
The profound links of compassionate connectivity with the openness at their heart, are revealed within this text…

Errata: There are three small slips from the text within the reading… which I may be able to rectify later:
‘there is a GREAT wish-granting tree’; Amitabha is surrounded by ‘hosts of deities’, omit the ‘the’ currently preceding ‘hosts’; ‘there are many, many spheres of light’ not just many! : )

The evocative clip was abstracted from a painting by Stewart Edmondson a local artist…

The immediacy and freshness of his work done outside, en plein air, working in and with the elements, resonated with me when I first saw it….
And… looking at the patch of light in a relaxed way… maybe we see-envision differently…
As James points out the eyes of the heart see differently from the eyes of the intellect.

Lotus Source Practice

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Blossoms opening…sky to sky..

Happily the next audio recording (19) from the book Lotus Source, is now available…
It is of James Low’s introduction and translation of the practice treasure-text…

Once, when talking with James, I went into a bit of a riff of gratitude…
He listened and responded with… ‘Merry Christmas!!!’
It wasn’t Christmas time : )… but humility that spoke to me.

So many beneficial interactions have occurred to bring this book into our hands and facilitated our ability to appreciate and make use of its contents…
If this is our path then in time …through open-heartedly engaging with the practice… the profound truth, of which this is a direct expression, can reveal itself…like the moon coming out from behind the clouds. So our appreciation widens and deeps…as tension resolves in openness.

The beautiful flowers in the photo have brought delight each year since Sarah Allen ( whose input you’ll come across in connection with books and on the web-site) gave me some seeds from her ‘Morning Glory’ plant.

Opening from a cream furled-umbrella shaped bud, each flower last for just one day before changing shape and colour – from blue to mauve – and falling from the vine….
But there are many flowers even, this year, in December…

So may our Christmas-time be fruitful…maybe if you haven’t yet read James last two posts perhaps there’ll be time… to metabolise them, taking their wisdom deeper… as I will.
And may we flourish and flower in the New Year and on…inseparable from the dharma-vine, with it’s root of truth… until the end of time

P.S. Cracking two audio Christmas Crackers with you!

– of sound and silence…there was both, with dharma surprise and enjoyment in performance artist Marina Abramović’s selection Desert Island Discs on BBC radio 4 on 3rd December
– and movement and silence…in Marcel Marceau’s story told by his daughters…on Saturday 9th December

(you’d need to access BBC Sounds to find these)

image (wikipedia)

A Great Cloud of Blessing…. and Imploring Padmasambhava…

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James Low

A month or so ago I was working on the recording of the prayer by Padmasambhava ‘Removing Obstacles’ … it’s no. 12 in the Lotus source series of recordings.
James explained that the Tibetan word ‘jamtrin’ on P.153 meant soft clouds… and I thought
‘Oh how beautiful.. and light.. and like that……… is this dharma’s-lamas blessing!’

So called ‘precious stones’ are more dense and more highly valued by many in this world.
All that may go along with them… in the lives of the miners, and those who employ them…the pride desire and the envy and the deals that are done …are like unseen shadows to their brilliance.

But these prayers, are part of our inheritance … and are jewels untainted by any of those shading factors.
They come down to us through the lineage as A Great Cloud of Blessing from the Fifth Dalai Lama… and Imploring Padmasambhava by Dudjom Rinpoche…with an explanatory orientation, facilitating our connection with them, from James Low
…and arrive on the page for us as a gift, freely given for our use.
Many beings and much beneficial effort is connected with their current availability.

Even prayers such as these may evoke consternation, a shadowing, in some…but their source is pure, as are our intentions.
As we engage with them, their profound energetic heritage can flow though us…and the value of our inheritance reveals itself.
They connect us in time with profound expressions of realisation, offering highly effective ways of understanding, responding to, or working with the energetic movements of the world/our mind.

I was recently asked whether reading the prayers silently is as beneficial as saying them out loud.
As I have learned from our teacher ‘it depends’ is often the most helpful answer.
I used to wonder ‘depends on what ???’… trusting that the answer would eventually arise.
‘The circumstances’… I realised eventually, was the unspoken answer… : )

Recently I’ve had to read, rather than say aloud …and so I noticed that for me, there is a deeper quality of engagement as I speak them …
And this quality deepens, not necessarily by repetition, but by slowly savouring words and lines so that their meaning and impact sinks deeper…
The words put onto the page by the love and hard work of others through time, flows though my eyes into my heart… then out into the world…
So as I say it I become more fully aligned with it….when reading silently I can just be reading… or not.
However we engage, may it be beneficial

Pure White Lotus

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The recording of this text was added to the series a couple of weeks ago but some repair work to the aging skeleton means I am only now flagging it up!

Perhaps you found it anyway… but if not then listening to this treasure text regarding the truth of phenomena – no.15 in the series– may resonate with your intrinsic wisdom.

In his introduction James indicates that text this offers a description of how Padmasambhava’s potential manifested – how he responded to different situations …including when he encountered an interest (or disinterest) in the pure dharma.

The text was revealed not so long ago by Sera Khandro, an emanation of one of his close disciples.
It is not simply a biography of Padmadsambhava. As a revelation of his apparitional speech, what we encounter here is part of his legacy to us.

It includes instructions on behaviour … as with the earlier recording of Dudjom Rinpoche’s prayer ‘Pure Discernment’, enjoining us to make no mistake about what is to be adopted and what is to be abandoned. Also a prayer of aspiration …with which we can engage.

In the book there are seventy ‘note-worthy’ notes which James has offered to assist us in unpacking and engaging with the text, including the nature of the obstacles mentioned in those prayers. So if you are following this path it would be very helpful for study and practice if you are able to access the book.

Some notes are deeply telling…’Profound dharma is not a set of standard issue practices to be followed but an invitation into a deeper relationship with the ground of one’s own presence. There are many paths, all helpful, but we each must find our way.’ JL

Prayers for pray-ers ~ Purifying Obscurations, Effortless Fulfilment, Removing Obstacles, Wishes Quickly Fulfilled and The Stainless Biography ~ recordings 10-14

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Since early August a bumper crop of new prayers have been added to the Lotus Source recordings.
You’ll find them under Audio/Video> Lotus Source.

When H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche was doubtful about the benefit of writing yet another prayer, as had been requested, his concern was that there were already many prayers…. but there were so few pray-ers!

The image above shows prayers and pears together…
The prayer and the pray-er form a pair which bears fruit.
These prayers may sit un-tasted by you – on a branch/server somewhere – or you are free to pick them, use them… engaging with and becoming one with their expression… being ripened softened and transformed.

As the sun ripens the pears so the prayers may ripen us to manifest radiance.
The value of the Stainless Biography, as with the other prayers, is gestured to by James in his introduction and may well deepen our connectivity with the practice.

May fortunate pray-ers pray these profound prayers and their benefit resound!

Do we know what to adopt and what to reject? Pure Discernment ~ Lotus Source recording

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the clear illuminating
light of wisdom

There is no way to navigate across the river to the ‘Further Shore’… or cross the ‘Ocean of Samsara’… using the map we found in our hands when we first started out on this journey.
That map only shows the land-locked features which are taken to be significant in samsara…and the routes which our habits, inflected by our conditioning, might take either towards or away from them.

These are routes and features which are personalised, individually highlighted…seemingly ‘for us’.
So to find and take other routes which don’t feel familiar… where we feel incompetent, where there are no star charts to indicate progress, where the destination is not another place… is not easy.

However although it’s far easier to continue with the old map we’ve been using for years, lifetime after lifetime…you know – the one with ‘me’ at the centre – as with the geographical world-map we’re most used to…the reference point and intention affect the projection … and distortion is the inevitable result . With distortion there is tension… and thus we keep wandering in samsara.

Latterly new projections of the world-map have emerged. Each shifts the reference points and the perception offered…just as when we engage with different dharma teachings we alter the lenses and the perspective with which we view our world.

Although they are vital and helpful, no dharma teacher can download and replace the out of date maps we’re using…they can show us it’s possible, give us methods and much more…but it we who have to engage reflect and apply, working with our tendencies and what we can access of what’s offered to us.

Being recovering samsaraholics our efforts and success in this are a bit variable to say the least.
It’s a bit like the first time I had too much to drink, when I could clearly see that the tables on one side of the pub were taller than on the other side…so best thing to do in such an unusual situation seemed to be to walk at an inclination between the two… : ) …not exactly a position of equipoise!

What we have in this next sutra, the Aspiration for Pure Discernment, is a dharma transmission directly from the openness, through one manifestation of Padmasambhava to another…and another… to us – to help us to navigate in as a straight a line as we may… in the direction ‘Home’…

It highlights the wrong turns and cul-de sacs we are likely to encounter en-route…and the consequences of falling asleep at the wheel.
The pot-holes and pit-falls which will inhibit us from realising our inherent potential are illuminated… and the straight ways and good surfaces which will help us… are clearly laid out.

These dharma reference points are so valuable…without the reliable route…and the bogs… being marked for us on our dharma route map…we would be hopeless lost.
The title of this prayer says it all….it’s The Prayer by which one Recognises ones own Faults and Remembers one’s Refuge together with a Repentant Confession and Rectification and a Very Pure Aspiration to be very clear about what is to be Adopted and what is to be Abandoned.

The Colophon should make us sit bolt upright with full attention …
The urgency of the lady’s request for this prayer arises from a profound sense of its necessity for the welfare of we dharma-practitioners…
and it’s from our requests, and to our need …that the dharma responds so clearly



The recording was completed during the night of the full moon… 1st August 2023

Thanks to Sean for the photo from which this was taken