mental formations, formed in the mind

A mental formation is literally that, something that has been formed or created out of a number of ideas collected together, a concept, a series of thoughts that make up a story or a picture. So we see a flower as a distinct flower on a distinct plant growing…

Take a Breath and Have a Hug

Take a breath. It doesn’t matter which one, any will do!

This one right now, this one that you are in the middle of, take that one.

Are you enjoying it?

Being grounded in the ground of being.

Water comes in many forms, yet it is always water. even if it is in tea or a cloud or an ice cube it is still water at its root, its ground. SO a wave arises and falls away, a human does too but it takes a bit longer, that is all. we never stop being in our…

Emptiness

The heart sutra tells us that all of the five skandas are equally empty, along with a lot more conceptual stuff, and that when we realise this, like Avalokiteshvara, we can overcome all ill-being.

A compassionate heart and mind make you the happiest person in the world.

The Four Noble Truths

Buddhism is about how to be happy in life and it consists of list of how to achieve this- the original set of listicles…

Nirvana — the heavenly aimlessness of living

People think nirvana means some kind of heavenly place you go to, and that is one of the biggest misunderstandings about Buddhism in the west. Nirvana is already here, we are in it, but our minds are too cluttered with forms and ideas and thoughts and…

Mindful Miniatures

Ashes cannot
become wood,
but flames
flare forever.

Dilemmas and choices - the mindful way

Sometimes life faces us with lots of small choices which are relatively easy to cope with. Some days though you are faced with big dilemmas, big choices, long term outcome effects on your life.

Tibetan Blues

So many lives
to come this far.