A reflection on suffering and unsatisfactoriness (dukkha) – the motivation for deciding that ‘I must change the way I see the world’ Suffering is part of my life. Everything I experience is tinged with incompleteness. I cannot escape...
Reflection on karma: our actions have consequences for better or for worse Everywhere I look in the universe I see things arising and passing away in dependence upon conditions. From galaxies and stars to micro-organisms, this pattern holds true. Things aren’t...
Reflection on Death Here is my version of the second of the four reminders (also called the Four Preliminary Reflections): reflection on death and mortality. One day I will die. I cannot avoid it. It comes to everyone, and it will come to me. Everyone who has lived in...
The Four Reminders are guided reflections on what Buddhism considers the basic facts of life. Turning them over is a way of reminding ourselves of what we know, but forget and jolting ourselves into activity. Here’s my version of the first of those reflections...
A vivid account in one of the earliest Buddhist texts describes how the Buddha guided his disciples in responding skilfully to both praise and blame. The story is full of his wisdom about how we can avoid harming ourselves or others through our speech and how we can...
