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Category: Buddhism

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Thich Nhat Hanh: I am not here
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Thich Nhat Hanh: I am not here

Following the death of Thich Nhat Hanh, and his funeral this week, I wanted to share the beautiful words he wrote in anticipation of this event called ‘I am not here.’ I hope you find them as poignant and uplifting as I do: I Am Not in Here ང་འདི་ན་མེད། རྐ་སྲས་ཀྱིས་བསྒྱུར། ཝེ་ཐི་ནམ་གྱི་ནང་ང་ལ་སློབ་མ་ཞིག་ཡོད། ཁོང་གིས་ང་ཤི་རྗེས་ངའི་རུས་ཐལ་གྱི་ཆེད་མཆོད་རྟེན་ཞིག་བཞེངས་འདོད་འདུག ཁོང་དང་གཞན་དག་ཚོས་མཆོད་རྟེན་དེར། “འདིར་ངའི་བརྩེ་བའི་སློབ་དཔོན་བཞུགས་ཡོད།”ཅེས་གསལ་བའི་བྱང་བུ་ཞིག་ཀྱང་འཇོག་འདོད་འདུག ངས་ཁོང་ཚོར་ལྷ་ཁང་གི་ས་ཆ་འཕྲོ་བརླག་མ་གཏོང་ཞེས་བཤད་པ་ཡིན།...

Celebrate: the “intelligently lazy” path to fulfillment
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Celebrate: the “intelligently lazy” path to fulfillment

At secondary school I had a maths teacher who encouraged us to be “intelligently lazy.”  Appealing to the subversive instincts of her adolescent students, she would show us mathematical short-cuts which we would gobble up, eager to get the same result as other kids for doing less work.  So cunning was Mrs. Gaunt that we...

Is Buddha more Western than you think?
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Is Buddha more Western than you think?

Years ago I was in one of those undercover markets, where you never know what kind of stall is round the next corner.  I came across a beautiful statue of the Buddha.  As I stood admiring it, the stallholder told me, “Of course, Buddha never wanted images of himself to be made.’ ‘Didn’t he?’ It...

Unlock your own resilience and capacity to heal
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Unlock your own resilience and capacity to heal

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, I have written an introductory booklet about Medicine Buddha – a powerful, healing practice we use in Tibetan Buddhism.  You’ll find the first two sections of the booklet below. I hope you find this inspires you to tap into the limitless capacity for wellbeing which we all possess. You...

Attaining insights: Buddha’s wisdom of the three bowls
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Attaining insights: Buddha’s wisdom of the three bowls

When we read a book, or listen to a teaching about personal transformation, we are doing something out of the ordinary.  We are not simply wishing to acquire information or be entertained – although both of those things may happen.  Instead, we are seeking insights to help us experience life differently.  To bring an end...

Why your life is so precious – in Buddha’s own words
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Why your life is so precious – in Buddha’s own words

In Buddhism, sutras are records of the actual teachings of the Buddha.  Like other spiritual teachers, he sometimes offered metaphors to make a point with sufficient power to shift our perspective.  And when it came to explaining the rarity of our lives – yours, and mine – he used a metaphor so mind-boggling that it...

Practising compassion shouldn’t make you a doormat: a Buddhist perspective
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Practising compassion shouldn’t make you a doormat: a Buddhist perspective

If you had to choose the single quality most closely associated with Tibetan Buddhism, it would probably be compassion. In the words of my precious teacher, Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden: ‘If you were to ask: “What is the essence of the Buddha’s teachings?” the answer must be great compassion, because that is the foundation of...

What vows do you take to be a Buddhist?
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What vows do you take to be a Buddhist?

If you decide that Tibetan Buddhism is the path for you, and you wish to formalise your commitment, you may choose to take part in a ceremony called ‘Taking Refuge.’  (I have previously written about this concept in my blog: https://davidmichie.com/what-is-a-buddhist-a-definition/) The refuge ceremony is often short, and as well as taking refuge in the...

Enlightenment to Go – read the introduction here!
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Enlightenment to Go – read the introduction here!

  INTRODUCTION ‘If I have any understanding of compassion and the practice of the bodhisattva path, it is entirely on the basis of this text that I possess it.’ The Dalai Lama speaking about Shantideva’s “Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life”   Often when the Dalai Lama ends a public speech, a member of...

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