Responding to Suffering: Learning from Mindfulness Based Approaches Pt 2
Mindfulness based approaches use Buddhist methods to address psychological difficulties. But they adapt them to the needs modern society by emphasising acceptance or moving towards the difficult; being nonjudgmental; and being kind to yourself
Read More
Learning From Mindfulness Based Approaches: the State We’re In
Buddhists are often wary of secular mindfulness training. But Mindfulness Based Approaches are a meeting ground between meditation and modern psychology and we can learn much about the psychological issues people face and how do they produce suffering. The first of two posts.
Read More
Buddhism & the Mindfulness Movement: Friends or Foes?
We’re in the middle of the Mindfulness Boom as Buddhist-derived meditation practices enter the cultural mainstream. But is this the Dharma touching and transforming western society, or is Buddhism being turned into a self-help technique and a consumer product? Its time for Buddhists to start reflecting seriously on the mindfulness movement and to learn its lessons.
Read More
‘Compassion for My Torturer’: A Meeting With Palden Gyatso
Tibetan Buddhist monk, Palden Gyatso, spent 33 years imprisoned by the Chinese and drew deep on his Buddhist practice to survive his brutal treatment. He escaped to the West to tell his story, and when I met him in London he told me about his experiences and reflections. ‘I never regretted what I did. I did not put up the posters to alleviate my own suffering, but for the good of Tibet. The whole country was in prison, so it was not important what happened to me’.
Read More
Don’t Rely on Lineage
Many Buddhist traditions claim that they are reliable and authoritative because they inherit a lineage of realised masters dating back to prestigious teachers of the ancient past. That sounds impressive and appealing but the Buddha advised us to check out the truth of a teaching in our own experience. Perhaps the whole notion of lineage is a beguiling diversion from what Buddhist practice is really about.
Read More
Discovering the Buddha
What’s left to say about the Buddha? Everything, I discovered in writing my biography: Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teaching of the Awakened One. And the funny, original, surprising Buddha of history is more relevant than ever
Read More
How western Buddhism has changed in 50 years
It's 50 years since Buddhist teachers started arriving in the west in the early 60s and Buddhism crash-landed into the counterculture. So what have we learned about western Buddhism? An article for The Guardian
Read More
Kalu Rinpoche’s Confessional Video and the Tulku Fantasy
The young Kalu Rinpoche, reborn 'tulku' of a respected Tibetan Buddhist teacher, has posted a video detailing sexual abuse by Buddhist monks, his tutor's attempt to murder him and his descent into drug addiction and alcoholism. His testimony should lead us to question the tulku system and the adulation blinding us to its problems
Read MorePhotostream
Vishvapani
I’m a writer and teacher of Buddhism, mindfulness & meditation based in Cardiff. My biography of the Buddha is just out. 