If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed.
If you're visiting from Interesting South, the page you are looking for is here. Thanks for visiting!
Inspired by a conversation, turned blog post with Albert, I’ve also decided to share with you what’s going on behind the scenes here, and also offer you, dear reader, an opportunity to help grow The Middle Way. If you’re interested in knowing more, or wanting to help, please contact me.
Continue reading ‘The Middle Way—Happenings’
Recently I took the opportunity to go on a personal retreat for a few days. I went down to, Kiama, a very lovely place. For my retreat I packed a few books, my laptop, my camera, some incense, my Zafu and Zabuton, and in a last minute dash, I picked up my Kannon, purchased from the markets in Mount Tremper, near Zen Mountain Monastery. Continue reading ‘The Breaking of Compassion’
The mystical perception (which is only “mystical” if reality is limited to what can be measured by the intellect and senses) is remarkably consistent in all ages and all places, East and West, a point that has not been ignored by modern science. The physicist seeks to understand reality, while the mystic is trained to experience it directly. Both agree that human mechanisms of perception, stunted as they are by screens of social training that close out all but the practical elements in the sensory barrage, give a very limited picture of existence, which certainly transcends mere physical evidence. Continue reading ‘Mystical Perception’
Malas can be a rewarding form of meditation. I remember back to this time last year when I was investigating using a Mala in my practice. Now, after a year of active use, I feel able to give feedback from my experience. The short answer? Get one!
Continue reading ‘Using a Mala’
Humans are very adaptable. We quickly and deeply form habits and fall into routine. This comes about through the mind’s ability to ‘get by’ and it’s conservation of mental energy. Once we form a habit, they can be very hard to break. However, It’s only when breaking a habit we see its strength and hold on us. We need to live presently, consciously, turn down the auto pilot, to “Step out of the bureaucracy of ego” as Tibetan teacher Chogyam Trungpa counsels (After the Ecstasy, the Laundry(aff)).
Continue reading ‘Round and Round We Go’
When we attack someone who wins? Does the winner really win? Attacking is like a mental poison. It creates a short circuit, reinforcing negative behaviour. From an economic point of view, limited resources of time, energy, and money are consumed. On what? So much potential is absorbed in defending an idea. How is this “winning”?
Continue reading ‘Unlimited Reality’
The Case: A Monk asked Yunmen, “When not producing a single thought, is there any fault or not?”
Yunmen said, “Mount Sumeru.”
The Verse: Not producing a single thought—Mount Sumeru;
Yunmen’s gift of teaching is not stingy in intent.
If you come with acceptance, he imparts with both hands;
If you go on doubting, it’s so high you can’t get a hold.
The blue ocean is wide,
The white clouds are peaceful;
Don’t put so much as the tip of a hair in there.
A phony cock crow can hardly fool me—
I still won’t agree to let you pass through the gate in confusion.
Continue reading ‘Yunmen’s “Sumeru”’
Often we mistake ideas as reality. As Michael McAlister reminds us, “The map is not the territory”. Through a practice such as meditation, when our mind becomes still, ideas become visible. We see outside of them, and their grip loosens. It’s at this place that we gain access to reality. There we realise our ideas are just that. Ideas. They are not facts or certainty, just one possible path. When we let go of ideas and concepts, we live in the moment and the world opens.
Continue reading ‘Working with Ideas and Reality’
