There’s a question Buddhist teachers like to ask, to tease their students towards a particular insight: when did you last see yourself? “A short while ago,” some of us reflexively reply. “I was washing my hands and I looked up and saw myself in the mirror.” “What you saw then was a reflection of your...
I am pleased to offer the following excerpt from my book ‘Enlightenment to Go: Shantideva and the Power of Compassion to Transform your Life’. As a young child I remember the great excitement I felt about Santa Claus. Every year, as Christmas approached, his name would be invoked as a way of making me...
Tibetan Buddhism contains a wonderful array of practices to suit many different people, across a variety of circumstances. But at the centre of all these practices, you might say at the heart of Tibetan Buddhism itself, is the cultivation of bodhichitta. What is bodhichitta, and why is it so important? The following extract from my...
I am sometimes asked this question, especially at the end of an introductory class on Buddhism. The person asking me will usually have been struck by one of the life-enhancing insights offered by the Dharma. Perhaps they have experienced the gentle but powerful impact that meditation has on our state of mind. Many Buddhist teachings...
I wrote ‘Enlightenment to Go’ to help share the wisdom of Shantideva, an amazing Buddhist sage who composed the world’s first self-help book, back in the eighth century. If you really want to understand the essence of Tibetan Buddhism, there is no better source than Shantideva – who the Dalai Lama, and many other Tibetan...
