Description
This talk given at the London Buddhist Society focuses on an issue that could be said to be the most important feature of dharma training but also the most important feature of all spiritual training that all religions, indeed all spiritual aspirants pursue. Without it access to the source of your quest is not possible, and this is the cultivation of silence of mind supported by physical stillness. This is a major challenge that demands we examine the reasons why we can't pull this off. Discover that a busy life without seeking precious spacious moments to relax and do nothing thus to become the master of your life, rather that its victim, is a major impediment in finding the mental platform to developing silence of mind on the meditation cushion, and discovering liberation from suffering.
In our quest to be free we have to look and discover that part of ourselves that isn't. We discover with investigation that so much of our thinking and functioning in life is simply following what we are familiar with, like a machine that we hide behind because we feel we are safe and...
Published 09/21/15
Silent- Illumination is an ancient Chan practice that can be difficult to understand and put into practice. This talk attempts to unpack this ancient practice and make it accessible to us here in the west so we can identify with it and take it not just to our meditation, but crucially also into...
Published 04/22/15