Invitations

Final part (viii) of the chapter Open to life: the Heart of Awareness!

April 4, 2026

Here’s a goose egg for you!…

Yes ok…though pattern recognition and labelling comes into play… it’s ungraspable… shape and colour…
It can’t nourish your body …yet it comes on the wind of best wishes along with the recording of Part (viii)… which is now available.

The nourishment these teachings offer can help to open us to how we are… to the wisdom which underlies equanimity… free of bias towards friends and relatives and against enemies and strangers…*
This is what we and the world need right now as the turbulence increases and speaks to our potential…and is not a state of passive avoidance, a cut-off state unmoved by suffering…
As we digest these the ego slims…and whether or not eggs cake or chocolate are on the table doesn’t matter so much… as we find our way from captivity towards liberation.
As it says in the book Finding Freedom…we already have the foundation, our own mind…
Study gives us a map… meditation gives us a method… but to do the work we have to choose freedom as our motivation…

It’s Easter Sunday tomorrow… let’s have an easter-egg hunt for the children!

Maybe it’s a parent wanting to give the children a good time …or a focus for a get together… or maybe to raise some funds for charity by changing for entry.
The goal offered the child is finding the chocolate eggs, maybe finding the most chocolate eggs…!
But the allure of the quest depends on many variable factors…how many eggs have already been eaten, what’s the weather like, who else is participating, their age and mood……the mood of the adults around…how many they find…. what other entertainment is available
There may be pleasure in the quest and the consumption, but we can see if we look…that neither the eggs nor the factors nor the pleasure nor the participants… are self-existing and enduring phenomena…

Then we might think… are there any phenomena, whether seemingly internal or external, which are stably so, enduring reliably through time?
Followed by… why are we looking for stability?…are we perhaps a rather shaky some ‘thing’ looking for some more reliable ‘thing’ on which to lean… to steady us as we hop from one thing to another?
Is there stability anywhere …and if so… where is it?… and how come we don’t experience it…?

When we rely on our ‘normal-human’ dualistic mind-set – that set of assumptions gives us the sense that being a knowable ‘something’ is unquestionably true…and that ‘the rest’ – all we consider to be ‘not us’, consists of other ‘knowable somethings’….
….and that knowing something about them or having an opinion about them… is a sign of our intelligence…
and that not knowing… is a sign of our stupidity**

It’s as if by sleight of hand, by employing this kind of knowledge…which more truly is ‘making sense of’ apparently self-existing stuff according to our interpretations… or through repetition of the interpretations of others… we can convince ourselves, and others who see things through a similar lens… that this selective knowledge gives validity to our view of others, ourselves, the world… and our place in it.

I can remember a sentence in a Ladybird book for children… where Janet and John’s activities are described as ‘we measure and we weigh’…
Boy, do we ever!

But does any of this mental activity take us any closer to discovering the heart of the matter, of our ‘selves’… or are we weaving an insubstantial yet somehow reassuring egoic cover-up… which a buddha would recognise as delusive
…a smoke-screen of beliefs which obscures and impedes any deep investigation into the relationship between our attachment to concepts…and suffering…?

If our eyes open a bit… through connection with the dharma we can start to put our conditioned frame of reference into question…
and shed light on the processes …whereby we habitually label define and invest in appearances as if they were self-existing things… and fail to realise that it’s the energy of our own mind which flows with our attention that confers an apparent solidity or givenness to phenomena as we in-vest/ dress them up… wrapping them, subject-to object, in whatever mental clothing comes to mind…

In this way what ever I, as I take myself to be, remain as the centre…the judge, the one who knows what’s what….this is this and that is that!’

This ongoing activity obscures both our ongoing presence and our potential to be evoked in ways which are truly fitting to the moment. So we become lost, captivated, where we are…and in taking ourselves to be a thing amongst things we are vulnerable to fusion with any thought formation including the arising poisons… and move more deeply into confusion.

So as we are studying the dharma map and gaining a deeper understanding of how we blind ourselves with our confused beliefs about the manner in which we exist… mediation offers a clutch to ease us out of habitual entanglement.
If our goal is freedom from delusion, we need to frequently engage with this…and as we do the shift-stick (gear-stick) which may keep us in neutral or overdrive, any gear which doesn’t match the conditions starts to free up…

How would we be if we gently eased out of our biased interpretations, if we had a rest from high-lighting and low-lighting transient occurrences according to the methodologies we habitually employ as we form our evaluations and come to definitive conclusions?

This coming Sunday is the first Sunday of the month, a simply sitting Sunday… so some of us will be sitting apart but together… not hunting for any answers…not using any methods to analyse what’s occurring…
We’ll be sitting on our bums and using that opportunity as much as we are able, to not interfere with, not to invest in nor reject… any of the phenomena arising in the experiential field…and allowing the revelation of our mind as it is.

This particular practice is not easy…it takes practice allied with the study that illuminates the why’s and wherefores of getting lost…
If we can engage little and often it will get easier…and we can engage with more shamatha instead if that’s what we need to help us.

Coming into connection with the dharma teachings we are invited to become like the ‘Great goose’ of Indian mythology which can filter out the milk from the water it was mixed with… and be clear about finding what’s truly helpful for us and making good use of it… for liberation …for the benefit of all.

* The last line of the Four Immeasurables prayer as given in the book The deep and Vast Freedom of the Dharma by James Low…it’s a wonderful guide for our practice!

** part (viii) turns this assumption on it’s head!
Open to Life : the Heart of Awareness (part vii) – new recording

March 14, 2026

Happy Mothers Day to all!

You’ll find the new recording here…at the bottom.
It is the penultimate recording of chapter 3… from the book The Open Door of Emptiness.

There are three sections to this recording –
The energy of Openness is mis-apprehended…
Openness and becoming at 12′ 19″
and Practice at 26′ 04″ or thereabouts

On this grey and blustery day… fresh flowers of spring …
are dancing with the movement of the wind

Recycling box lids have blown right off…
but the flowers,
having a shaping without rigidity, remain atop their stems of flexibility …

The wind blows
among and through them…
as they bend,
offering their wordless invitation…

to be simply … as we are…
Summer Retreat at Emerson College, East Sussex, England

March 8, 2026

‘Opening to non-dual Belonging’… is the focus of the teachings at this retreat

James writes, “The focus of the retreat is on directly opening to our mind as it is. Our intrinsic presence is not created by others, by our own effort, or by circumstances.

It is not a construct …and it is not like anything we know.
By dis-identifying with our constructive habits we will set them free to vanish where they are.

This reveals our own source, of which we are the non-dual display.”

Huw Williams is organising the retreat…and has sent an email a week or so ago to participants explaining that James is planning to teach in the morning time and inviting the sangha…. if they feel moved to contribute to the events available in the afternoon, to send him details…for discussion with James…
You’ll find James’ recent explanation with further details about this … if you check under Events on the Simplybeing website…
If you don’t seem to have received Huw’s email…which also includes detail about glamping tents and other info/ links…just send him an email…he has a very busy life but hopes to reply within 3-4 days.

There is a link to purchase tickets for the retreat on the Simplybeing website….

N.B. Rooms and food are additional costs on top of this…and are purchased directly from the college from their website.

Currently, 9th March, there are just a few rooms left available…

Camping is another option… and costs £25 per night…for permission to pitch your tent
You can book this by phoning the college reception (number below).

If you would like to purchase food with this option…you can…just let the college know when you book and you can sort that out at the same time.

The camping-field has wonderful views and fresh air… : )

Also, I think Huw will also be offering Glamping tents again this year …very nice bell tents already set up for you…
Best to get in touch with him directly about that…dejahu@me.com

The retreat runs from Monday afternoon 8th June until after lunch on Sunday 14th…

Emerson College
Forest Row
East Sussex RH18 5JX

What3Words: ///dragonfly.innovator.searches

+44 (0)1342 822238
reception@emerson.org.uk
New recording ….

February 14, 2026

….here’s part (vi) from Chapter 3 of the Open Door of Emptiness… a gift for Valentines Day!

Just scroll down to the last recording on the linked page…

Love – Wisdom and Compassion
Macclesfield Talks! Study Group…

January 12, 2026

That’s an interesting question…for dharma practitioners…!
There is a story we can tell ‘about’ it…but what did actually happen? Was it ‘real’?

Here’s some of the story of aspects behind the scenes…
From the club being wound-up with debts of half million pounds in 2020…rising to the match last Saturday when….despite being 117 places below them in the league…they beat last season’s F.A. cup-winners 2: 1
Macclesfield Town’s football team, the ‘Silkmen’, have risen like a phoenix from the ashes!

Having retained the family feel of football clubs of the past… and succeeding, with enthusiasm drive and talent…the club members and fans were jubilant at this result…running onto the pitch and hoisting aloft Paul Dawson, one of the goal scorers.

Just twenty-five days before this match one of their most talented young players, who seems also to have been an all-round lovely person, aged 21… was killed in a car crash returning from a match…and the club is still in mourning…

Manager John Rooney said ‘It puts life into perspective… seven days before, he scored a goal for us, and seven days later he’s not here any more. It’s the saddest thing I’ve ever been involved in.
The match against Crystal Palace is a massive occasion, but it is a game of football at the end of the day.
We want to perform all of the time, but there are bigger things out there than just a game of football.’

So well said…so poignant is this life, and no-thing is certain.
His team mate Danny Elliot said that they assumed ‘he’d have fifteen years or so of F.A cup runs ahead of him…. but life has strange ways of not being what you think it might be’…Indeed it has!

When goal-scorer Paul Dawson was just three years old …James Low came up to Macclesfield and started to teach a few of us in the way his teacher had asked him to…starting at the top, and in a way that helps them (us) get the point.

While players were playing at home in the Moss Rose ground ‘the emotional epicentre of Macclesfield, which radiates a unique charm that fans across the country envy’ ! : ) – or away…an increasing number of dharma-fans gathered once or twice a year to sit and listen to James teach.

His teachings… over the ensuing twenty years…have given us the opportunity to engage with the great depth and breadth of the dharma that he offered.
The topics he has covered are wide ranging… yet are accessible on some level to anyone with interest …and are listed here.

These teachings are, for the many of us who do so, a joy to listen to…
It can be such a blessed relief to hear someone who actually knows ‘how it is’, and can explain how we also might see more clearly… having devoted much of his life-energy to transmitting what can truly help us… in different ways.

This listening can in itself act as a soothing massage…but there is such a lot of nourishment in the talks that will only become available to us through our own careful and reflective mastication!

A thought arose to bring these teachings to wider attention and deeper engagement…and a format for this has now emerged.

Each of these talks was recorded…these recordings have been transcribed, so transcripts are also available on the Simplybeing.co.uk website… Audios>Retreats> England>Macclesfield…(reading as well as listening is valuable)…and for most talks there are also video recordings you can watch.

The idea is to study each talk for a month then meet together to discuss, check and discover more through engaging with others in the group.

James’ advice for studying is… ‘perhaps listening for half an hour at a time then reflecting…’ and in our weekly group, sharing could be helpful.
Slowing down enough to engage in this way may not be easy… but it will allow for deeper perfusion and absorption than just allowing the talks to flow over us…one after another… as I did for many years : )

To give some sense of the listening time required for this… the talks are much the same in length, the first is about 300mins long…so that’s ten sessions of 30 minutes of listening time plus reflecting time ..so maybe ten hours a month?

That might seem a lot…or not… but maybe puts into question where does true value lie?
How much of this life’s time is being invested in the, inherently unsatisfying, transient..?
The average time spent on smartphones per day seems to vary from between three and a half… and five and a half hours a day. Mid-way between, at four and a half hours, is one whole day per week…

The meetings will be on the third Sunday of the month between 4pm and 6pm UK time
James suggested that we try ’45 minutes in groups of 3… then 30 minutes together with you for questions and discussion, then another 45 minutes in another 3 reflecting on how they could apply their learning in everyday life.’… so we can give that a go!

The first meeting… on the talk ‘The View of Dzogchen’… will be on 15th March, so happily there’s more than a month from now to begin to become acquainted with this profound view…
As, I think, Suzuki Roshi said ‘the most important thing is to find out what is the most important thing’… and through engaging with these teachings we have a chance to open to this most important ‘no-thing’

If you are interested in coming to the monthly meetings, or have any questions… let me know via the ‘Contact Me’ form…(top right)
Please add a sentence or two that shows… eg by addressing me by name, including your name.. referencing the meeting date, title of the talk…that you are not a robot!

…and last but not least…may all our studies and practice go well… for the benefit of all….
Invitation to a film – Bashu, the little stranger… and reminding of the dharma film club

January 12, 2026

This film, released in 1987, won the classics section at the Venice film festival last year.

It was written and directed by the Iranian … Bahram Beyzai, who died just after Christmas this year.
He also wrote plays…was a master of Persian literature, mythology, and Iranian studies…and did much else besides!

About half a century ago in a big London teaching hospital I asked a lady if she could find a patients’ x-rays for me. She wrote down the details on a pice of paper and I was amazed at the beauty of what appeared from her pen …she explained that it was Persian script…

I haven’t watched a film for a long time, perhaps this was the link that made me write down the name of the play when I heard of Bahram Beyzai’s death on the radio…

I am glad that I did… and maybe you’d also find it a very heart-opening experience…

You can watch the entire film on YouTube.

I don’t like to know much about the details or what others have seen in a film, play, place or whatever, beforehand…so I can see it freshly…but to know that the people of the south are generally of much darker skin colour than the north was helpful in understanding some of the reactivity that Bashu encounters…and to know that the language each area uses at home is very different… was helpful.
The film reveals itself …no doubt uniquely to each of us, through our conceptualising lenses, filters… mood attention and so on … and perhaps more universal themes emerge the less clearly the film is pinned in time and place.

If you’d like to read more about it afterwards [or before ] here is a very sensitive, perceptive and appreciative in-depth review by Bijan Tehrani

There is a sangha film-club started by Ben Goddard and others…which offers the opportunity to meet together and discuss a film, exploring with and through others eyes and dharma perspective…
Do get in touch with him if you are interested… …. through connectivity and openness there’s so much that can help facilitate the widening and deepening of our narrowed views…

Praying in these turbulent times for naturally occurring bodhicitta to arise in the minds of those in Iran and all beings caught up in the suffering of samsara…so may all be free of aversion to enemies and strangers and clinging to friends and relatives..
The dharma invitation….

December 31, 2025

The dharma offers us the deepest and most profoundly healing invitation…to look and keep looking…
until we are able to relax out of our fascination with, and absorption into, the movements of the mind as if they held inherent truth…
into the unconpounded, ungraspable basis for those movements… the underlying ground and truth of each and every ‘one’…

We can use the different dharma lenses offered by the teachings to open ourselves up to different perspectives, as to how the world is and we are. Views which range from rather to radically different from that offered by our self-absorbed myopia, help us examine our fixity, putting into question the validity of the basis of our assumptions and beliefs…

Are the opinions that we hold about ourselves, others, and the world… the actual truth of how it is?
Are we a knowable entity, an independently self-existing… individual ‘thing’?

Our ‘ego-self’ would like to think so…but then…what exactly is this ego-self?
And how and why does this aspect attempt to assume definitional mastery over every other ‘thing’ by, in some way, labelling?
Is it the whole.. and truth… of us?
And fundamentally…if we rely on what we take to be ‘our’ thoughts feelings and sensations to tell us the answers to these questions, to tell the truth about everything…is that wisdom or ignorance?

Without encountering the dharma…would we ever ask these questions?
Without the teachers and teachings would we find the answers… all on our ‘owney-o’ ?

We are so lucky to have so many different teachings, explained and available…to help us release from our delusions. Different aspects of these will be helpful at different times…and they will reveal themselves differently to us as we continue to engage with them.

Exploring the teachings an relating to them we find our own unique and wiggly way to unfold…
Mine has relied heavily on the teacher and teachings in the Macclesfield Talks for the education, which in the true sense of the word, I lacked.
I’ve worked on and with many of them over the years and so was able to checking a query about the abrupt ending to Talk 3 Anxiety and Doubt.
My copy ends the same way… so I checked with Chris Coppock who made, and has many of the early recordings … unfortunately there was a hiccup, and the ending was not recorded.

Checking that out was a bit of an obstacle course… but I then found myself listening again to Talk 15 Balancing relaxation and effort in Buddhism with its wonderfully rich invitation to explore how our off-balancedness comes about, can be recognised… and resolved in the true balance of the middle way…
I wrote a post recently about balance, referencing Weebles … this talk takes it much broader and deeper.

I think listening to it would be helpful, and enjoyable… for those who are meditating on Sunday (or any day) to engage with ….taking your time to feel your way home : )

Maybe, like the snail, you’ll find some older older invitations… including some simple prayers… if you look below…
Everyday….is a good day… to wake up!

April 12, 2020

It’s good to be alive, to be able to breathe, to be able to pray, to be able to practice the dharma.

The compassion which arises from wisdom, like wisdom itself, is not something artificial, so not something we can construct by our efforts.

But we can use many methods to soften our sense of being an isolated, separate self… and bring ourselves into a more healthy orientation with those we see as ‘other’…a deconstruction of our ego-centrality…it’s all about me, mine, and my opinions.

Prayer is one such method… done with full attention the ever- present connection is energetically illuminated.

Although it is harder now to reach out towards those who are suffering in a physical or practical way… the prayers and meditations that we do can actually be more beneficial.

This is a bit hard to realise… it took me many years… the ego wants to do something to fix situations…

Of course, often that move can be entirely appropriate, the problem arises dependant on how much ‘I-Me!‘ is involved in the doing. If the move arises easily (but not habitually) and is released, rather than credit taken, then that’s harmonious with the dharma, with life.

So no-one one would say ‘please don’t do good things’…

but the direction of dharma travel, of increasing wisdom, changes our own conception of what is most valuable beyond the relative notions…

…taking us towards the pure relative…in the direction of the ultimate level of compassion, of the expression of our buddha-nature.

The energetic attention flowing out in the world from our heartfelt prayers does make a difference both to ourselves, as our orientation changes, and to others in the way we relate to them… a much bigger difference than you might imagine is possible through this.

A few days ago I was asked by one of you for some prayers that would be easy to use and easing…

So here are some daily prayers which you can use if you like…

I used to do the first two immediately I woke up (before getting stuck into ‘thinking about’ my situation!’)

Then sitting up in bed I would say the Four Immeasurables prayer….

then some meditation before getting out of bed…a good start to the day!

1.

May I be full of loving-kindness

May I be well

May I be peaceful and at ease

May I be happy

2.

May all beings be happy, content and fulfilled

May they be healed and whole

May all have whatever they want and need

May they be protected from harm

and free from fear

May all know inner peace and ease

May they be awakened, liberated, free

May there be peace in our world

and throughout the universe

Variations on similar lines say would be:

May no sentient being be unhappy, malicious, or ill,

neglected or despised;

and may no one be despondent

and:

Courage to the fearful,

freedom to the enslaved,

strength to the week,

mutual affection to all sentient beings

( that’s a prayer from Shantideva’s writing of the Bodhicaryavatara ’the way of the bodisattva ‘)

3.

The Four Immeasurables prayer that we say in the group goes like this:

May all beings be happy and know the root of happiness (love)

May they be free from suffering and cut the root of suffering (compassion)

May they abide in happiness free from suffering (joy)

and may they be free from aversion and clinging – feeling close to some and distant from others (equanimity)

A full explanation of the profundity of this prayer is to be found in macclesfield audio talk 10

An alternative with the same meaning is:

May all sentient beings be free from aversion and clinging,

feeling close to some and distant from others

May they win the bliss that is specially sublime

May they find release from the ocean of unbearable suffering

and maybe they never be parted from freedom’s true joy

In this way we can begin every day with the wish to devote it to the good of all living beings,

to bring peace and ease into every situation we encounter,

to be able to develop the spaciousness and qualities – the wisdom and compassion – required to fulfil these wishes.

That should keep us going for a bit…!

If you later wish to take refuge… (i.e. step on the Buddhist path) and take the bodhisattva vow

there is a brief daily meditation practice (these are the foundational practices from a Buddhist perspective)

and much more!

Just let me know if anything doesn’t make sense and we can talk it through

…but also, if you keep an eye on the Simplybeing.co.uk website Homepage and also Events you will see there is more activity and suggestion coming from James as to how orientate yourself, to be most at ease in and able to work with this particular situation in which we find ourselves operating…

…among which, currently on the right-hand side of the homepage at the top, there are some short guided meditations…which I recommend for relieving fusion with stress and tension and releasing back to your open state…allowing those movements to flow though without being defined by them.

The audio and video recordings of the Macclesfield in February teachings

Kindness, fellow feeling and the common weal [21]. Macclesfield, 2020

are now available …links here audio video

Just let me know if anything you find you need a bit of help ‘unpacking’….

all good wishes

wendy

Photo credit ‘ Dreamer’ from LoveThisPic … (which describes itself as a place for people to come and share inspiring pictures, quotes, DIYs, and many other types of photos.)
The Four Immeasurables

July 5, 2019

Here is the link to that prayer.

The words in the translation wish for all beings to have happiness and the cause of happiness…
To be free of sorrow and the cause of sorrow.

Following James’ talk in Macclesfield this year i have changed the words above that to those he used: wishing ‘for all beings to know the root of happiness’ and ‘for them to cut the root of suffering’.
Appointments and disappointments.

January 2, 2015

I have been thinking about appointments and disappointments, expectations and assumptions…. so whether you are new to the group or an ‘old hand’ I would ask you to read chapter 15 in the book Simply Being by James Low as I think it is important to explore your own expectations about the Dharma and how it is taught.

Just as a student cannot be known and labelled judged and discussed as if they were a thing, so neither can a teacher.

It’s wise to check a teachers credentials and important find out if there is a connection and whether you learn anything from them. Later, if issues arise which cannot be integrated then it is appropriate to raise this directly with the teacher. Friends will often confirm each others assumptions or opinions, and then what started out as a thought can end up as a ‘solid definition’.

If the student is disappointed with the teacher, or the teacher disappointed with the student, this means that one party has made an appointment for another to behave in a particular way, and an expectation has formed which has not been met.

Expectations are usually based on assumptions formed from past experiences mixed with imaginary hopes or fears, yet these can be taken for granted as self-evident truths. ‘You should be this… or you should not be….!’

Whether you are practising with a hinayana view, a mahayana view, or that of a non-dharma practitioner then a teachers behaviour will not always fit your frame of reference. This may trouble you but does not necessarily mean that an error has occurred. However if they should get a bit lost, and teachers are finding their way too, an apology should be forthcoming.

The dharma is very precise, as a medicine it has been used, tested and proven to be effective over thousands of years. However, as with contemporary medicine where only fifty percent of chronically ill patients take the prescribed medicine correctly, students can forget to take it, double the dose, mix it with other things or apply it incorrectly. Whilst the dharma teachings are the antidote to the ills of samsara the patient has to both trust the doctor and take the appropriate medicine regularly for it to work.

Others will have more facts at their finger tips and surely greater teaching skills but I have been given validation, within a lineage, to teach hinayana mahayana and vajrayana buddhism, including dzogchen, by someone who has full authority to do this. If you are unsure about this then you can check with me or with James Low. At the very least, this should mean that you have confidence that from the dharma point of view there is sufficient realisation and understanding to teach, and that I can be trusted never to be malicious.

Amendment July 2023 – This post was written getting on for a decade ago … at a time when I

assumed that lineage authorisation flowed through James automatically with what I had been

encouraged to do and realised.

This assumption was incorrect, there is more to it than that…exactly what I do not know : )

He has since clarified my rôle as a facilitator.

I have also completed the Bangor mindfulness teachers training course…this kind of mindfulness is derived from one of the eight stages of the Noble Path practised in the Hinayana view.

At times i can be teachery and sometimes even preachery but i am also in the process of change!

When the recluse speaks much ’tis on and of “the Way” (zen saying) …

They criticise when he says too much

and when he says too little…

and when he does not speak (the Dhammapada)

So…it’s genuinely hard to strike the right balance.

But whatever occurs, the Dharma speaks of the truth of impermanence and dependent co-origination (on the basis of this, that arises) so any opinion, view, situation or behaviour is transient and contingent. Learning how to teach is a process and hopefully my skills will increase with practise. James Low teaches in a very different manner now from that which he employed twenty years ago..

So for students all this invites examination of the assumptions they hold about the dharma and the teacher.

In your opinion should the good teacher leave you to travel at your own pace or encourage you?

Should they be always sympathetic and understanding and never challenge your views?

Should they be kind and gentle or a bit rough and acerbic?

Do they have rules to follow?……

A good teacher will do what’s appropriate – this will vary…their function is not to fall asleep with you but to help you wake up.

I wrote a verse which relates to this

What we can do with super glue!

Identity is a CV— a story used to limit me, which stunts my creativity.

If you stick stories onto me you’ll make a shape which seems to be a person of ‘solidity’.

If I bind with your certainty I compromise our liberty and movements are no longer free.

The truth of our reality is openness and vitality displaying momentarily.

So, if ever you’re upset by me the Bristol talk – first MP3 is a perfect apology.

(the talk is on this web-site under audios and videos)

Growth and change is not easy. If you’ve seen a chick picking its way out of an egg, a butterfly emerging from the chrysalis, or a snake sloughing off its skin you know that perseverance is vital…samsara with just a sprinkling of dharma doesn’t taste too good and is not sustaining.

A student may be keen for a while, even very appreciative of the teachings, however the winds of karma blow and off they go.The teacher cannot hold on to them, they themselves have to do the holding on until the view becomes not ‘second nature’ but first nature. Progress is not necessarily onwards and upwards. There is hope that students will study, reflect and practice — that they will respect the Dharma and the efforts of teachers who for thousands of years have studied practised and made many sacrifices to maintain the continuity of the teachings but they may not. So teaching also helps the teacher with the development of equanimity. Thank you if you have contributed to that somewhat uncomfortable process!

We are lucky to have James’ advice and I had a chat with him about the way forward for the group this year. The thinking is to give a short (15 mins) talk, meditation for half an hour and then study maybe fifteen lines of the Dhammapada. We’ll see how it goes.

As always, if there are issues which you would like to discuss outside of the class i am happy to talk on the phone or meet up with you and have a chat.

best wishes….

Wendy
How should a teacher behave?…

November 11, 2014

Well…. perfectly! Surely that is obvious.

But what do you mean by ‘perfectly’?

Well… perfectly… according to the rulebook in my head.

But if the teacher shares your rulebook you might not learn very much from them. As my teacher’s teacher told him — ‘the buddha is not a “nice man”.’

Awakening to the unborn natural state or ‘buddha nature’ results in a change of operating system…no longer standing apart and judging with a dualistic perspective but responding to dynamic situations with freshness and attunement.

A good teacher acts to wake us up to our attachment to the illusory nature of the fixed patterns we use to create the duality of samsaric existence. Some will even be kind enough to continue to point out that our shoes are far too tight until we wake up and feel the pain of our blisters, callouses and corms. At the same time they remind us that our feet are naturally beautiful and, with the right kind of dharma massage, these corms and blisters will become wings. Then we will work at freeing ourselves from these shoes and discover the pleasure of walking barefoot and moving through space in different ways!

Depending on your condition these may be the kindest teachers of all, but sometimes they may seem unpleasant. We want them to appreciate our lovely shiny shoes and sympathise with our limp however whilst they see our view they do not share it — they see beyond our felt limitations.

On the other hand a teacher may be just being rather unpleasant; karmic winds can shift a teachers behaviours, so this is something to look at — can we learn something by engaging with this person as they are and as we feel uncomfortable?

The ego will not readily choose to engage in a struggle where it feels its existence to be threatened but in dharma practice we are engaged in a process of softening and becoming undefended, allowing the ego to be what it is, just an aspect of our awareness, relaxing to the point where this awareness is revealed to us.

There is more on this theme, and about the relationship between teachers and students in chapter 15 – The Transmission of the Dharma — in the book Simply Being by James Low. It is important to try to have a sense of this relationship so please let me know if you have any questions.

I’d also be delighted to hear from you when you have read the preceding chapter, on refuge and bodhicitta…we can formalise taking the taking of refuge and bodhicitta vows if you would like…and discuss any questions which arise.
For Lee, Adam, and anyone else….

October 6, 2014

We were talking the other night and I thought that these two recordings— 3A and 3B from Balancing relaxation and effort in Buddhism were just on the point.