One of the most predictable outcomes of any meditation program is that several months afterwards, most people who attended will not be meditating. This may seem a bleak assessment. And although it’s based on personal experience, it is by no means my experience alone. According to Joshua Smythe, a biobehavioral scientist at Pennsylvania State University, only 30 percent of people...
Latest Blog Posts
The Astral Travelers Handbook & Other Tales – read the Dalai Lama’s Cat foreword here!
Could there be a greater honour than having the Dalai Lama’s Cat herself contribute the Foreword to my book, The Astral Traveler’s Handbook & Other Tales? If there is, dear reader, I have yet to be told about it. Below, fresh from the Himalayas, the musings of the world’s most realised feline, His Holiness’s Cat! FOREWORD BY THE DALAI...
The Big Reveal – Drum Roll! – Cover of The Astral Traveler’s Handbook!
My heartfelt thanks to every single one of you who voted on the range of book covers I shared in my blog about six weeks ago. And also thanks to each one of you who provided feedback, analysis and suggestions. It was all way beyond anything I had expected! That blog was the most commented on of any blog I’ve...
The enduring fascination with Lobsang Rampa
Back in 2016 I wrote a blog about T. Lobsang Rampa, author of books like The Third Eye and You Forever, that were very popular in the 1960s and 70s. The main point I tried to make in my blog (link below) was that a surprising number of Western students aged 55 plus, attribute their initial interest in Tibetan Buddhism to...
Who is the right Buddhist teacher for you?
In Tibetan Buddhism, the foundation of our practice is not a belief, a text, or a ritual – but a teacher. The importance of a teacher really can’t be over-emphasized. At the most basic level, because Buddhism is a practice-based psychology, the role of the teacher is like that of the golf coach, the piano teacher or the driving instructor...
Please help me pick a cover for my next book!
Hi Everyone, We’re at that exciting stage of the publishing process where six different cover designs are being considered for my next book. What is the book? A collection of short stories entitled ‘The Astral Traveller’s Handbook & Other Tales’ – in what I plan to be the first of a new series of ‘Bedtime Buddha’ publications. (For Dalai Lama’s...
Does meditating put you out of touch with reality?
I’d like to share an excerpt from my book, Enlightenment to Go, which deals with exactly this question. How better than to illustrate with the example of an Englishwoman who spent twelve years meditating alone in a cave in the Himalayas? A concern I’ve heard expressed is that too much time spent meditating, or developing other inner practices, could result...
What practice is at the heart of Tibetan Buddhism?
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 book, Enlightenment to Go, explains...
New Year’s Message and Update from David Michie
Dear Blog Readers, On this first day of January, 2018, may I start by wishing each and every one of you a very Happy New Year and all good things for the year ahead! Although New Year is a man-made concept, this period around mid-winter is a natural time of drawing inward and reflection on seasons past as well as...
If you could choose anyone, who would you turn to in your hour of need?
If you were in a position of unique privilege, and could access anyone in the world you wanted to, who would you turn to for wisdom when you needed it most of all? You would, of course, be ultra wary of those driven by self-interest, narrow in view, or lacking in insight. You would wish to be advised only by the...
Does Buddhism require faith?
Do you need to have faith to be a Buddhist? Must you believe in certain things – and if so, what? Faith may seem unnecessary or irrelevant if you are engaged in a practice-based psychology, which is how many of us regard the Tibetan Buddhist path. But in fact you do need faith – or confidence, as I prefer to...
What does “know thyself” actually mean?
I’d like to share a chapter from my book Hurry Up and Meditate which explores this intriguing question. I hope you find it useful! Since ancient times, the wisdom of self-knowledge has been held above all other. Some believe that it is the real purpose of our life’s journey. In ancient Greece, when seekers visited the Temple at Delphi (pictured above) to ask...
