Tag Archive for publications

Revealing The Great Completion:

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On the back cover of this book – ‘THIS IS IT’ – you’ll find James has written some explanations.

In the first paragraph he explains how the six distinct parts of the book offer key insights into the Buddhist understanding of how to free ourselves… whilst within the very situations which trap us.

Sounds good?

Then he explains the depth of the resource –
‘It offers diverse resources for study and practice.
Covering detailed analysis of phenomena, tragedies of blind arrogance transformed through tantra, and awakening in the presence of Dzogchen.’

and follows this with two paragraphs of truth to contemplate and realise…each infinitely more valuable than a king’s ransom:

‘The past is gone, the future never comes, and our present is obscured by echoes of our vanished past…
and dreams of our imagined future.
Living in the miasma of our own mental activity we are the pulsations of our thoughts, feelings, sensations and perceptions. We invent what we take to be occurring and then believe that life is what we imagine it to be.

The Buddha dharma offers us many ways to awaken from this delusion and bring us ever closer to the actual.
When we are present in and as our unchanging awareness the mistake of duality vanishes.
Resting in our non-dual presence, every moment is complete in itself and our anxious need to do something, anything, falls away.
No more make-believe, no more illusion, just ease and contentment in the simplicity that: THIS IS IT’

I have been engaging with this book for just a little while but would say, from my own experience, that opening to the variety of teachings therein…
and responding to the images – beautiful, symbolic, striking,
facilitates transformational connections outside of time and space with multiple manifestations of the truth of the buddha-dharma…not essentially different from those around us just now.

My own gratitude is deep, not just for the author’s wisdom but for all those who collaborated in bringing the book to life, applying their unique skills and loving energy…  for our delight and ease-ing.’

* Paragraphs reproduced with James approval.

Sparks – a bonfire of the vanities, revealing….

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Just an attention grabbing line, i hope…

in case you haven’t noticed this latest, very beautiful, publication… ‘Sparks’ by James Low.

Although one can dramatically ‘burn the vanities’… until the underlying sense of need for covering is gone, sooner or later, replacements will be sought.

By inspiring, allowing them right in, the marks on these pages can become heart-sparks… and then through repeatedly breathing onto them with tender attention, slowly or quickly, they will surely glow and then set fire to the soggy accumulated dead wood, so that the brilliance of the source of inherent warmth and wisdom can blaze forth unobstructed.

Mostly ‘though the fire aye burns,
we do not realise, because…
our smoke gets in our eyes!  

I felt moved to write the review below for Amazon:

‘If I had to choose one book to take to a desert island,
one dharma book,
one book for all time,
one book to open the heart to…this is it.

With iridescent lucidity ….moving beyond words
using language which is precise, yet contemporary and very accessible,
with great warmth and encouragement, the wisdom shining through this great teacher of dzogchen illuminates the way from lostness and confusion to the ease of our being, both simply and directly.’

It’s also available through Abe books and, if in London, from Watkins book store.