Wise Attention Blog
The writing on this site explores what it means to practice Buddhism, mindfulness and ethics in the modern world. You’ll find reviews, , talks, interviews, broadcasts and reflection on the arts as well as reflections on the Buddha and Buddhist teachings
Thought for the Day
Reflections on the news from a Buddhist perspective BBC Radio 4 since 2006
Arts
Reflections on the news from a Buddhist perspective BBC Radio 4 since 2006
Buddhism in the Modern World
Translating Buddhism into a form that’s effective in the modern world
Book Reviews
Buddhist books across three decades
Buddhist Monks Peace Walk: An Alternative to Social Division
Thought for the Day, 17.2.2026, BBC Radio 4 In a divided America, a 2,000-mile walk by Buddhist monks reveals how mindfulness can transform our response to global suffering and offer radical hope. The worse the news gets, the closer we come to some underlying…
Denying Compassion to Asylum Seekers Harms Ourselves
There is no more vexed issue in politics at present than the status of asylum seekers. It’s a complex debate that understandably focuses on the difficulty of absorbing more people and the struggles of those who are already here. But for now I want to focus on just one…
Suella Braverman & Buddhist Politics
Suella Braverman Is the UK’s Buddhist Home Secretary and a Right-Wing Culture Warrior What can one of the most senior members of Britain’s government tell us about how Buddhists should, or shouldn’t, engage politically?Vishvapani Blomfield Suella Braverman is the UK’s…
Turning Towards the Suffering in Gaza
Turning towards pain and suffering is a key to healing and it’s a key to creativity. Abeer Ameer’s remarkable journey helped me face what’s happened in the Gaza War About ten years ago a young Muslim woman called Abeer Ameer came on a mindfulness course I taught at…
Covid Challenged Our Certainties. What have we learned?
A few weeks into the first Covid lockdown I cycled into the centre of Cardiff to pick up some medicine. The roads were empty, the shopping streets largely deserted, and the few shoppers wore masks. Seeing the strangeness of the world the lockdown had created…
The Healing Power of the Present Moment
How can drawing engages with the present moment, and what can it offer our wellbeing and mental health? Last week I picked up a pencil and, for the first time in many years, I started to draw. I was co-leading a retreat with an artist friend that combined meditation…
Training in the Middle Way
Dressage Champion Charlotte Dujardin’s withdrawal from the Olympics when video footage showed her maltreating a horse raise questions about where the balance lies between discipline and abuse. How can we find the middle way? Thought for the Day, BBC Radio 4, 26 July…
Meeting Mara
When an issue has moral clarity, we are quick to outrage. But the story of the Buddha’s meeting with Mara suggests that we are part of the problem Stories like the infected blood and Post Office scandals offer rare moments of moral clarity in public life. The issue’s…
Combating Anger
As society gets angrier, the ancient Buddhist teachings are more relevant than ever Are we getting angrier? A video that went viral last week showed a 60 year-old man pounding the windscreen of a woman who’d honked him. Eyes bulging, spewing profanity, he was seized…
Ending the Middle East Cycle of Violence
As the war in Gaza threatens to spiral into a regional conflict, what light does Buddhist wisdom shed on cycles of violence? After the Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus and Iran’s missile strike against Israel, now what? Troubled voices are urging…