East West Wisdoms

The Quakers – or Society of Friends – probably have the Western world’s record for their consistent commitment over the centuries to peace and non-violence, in the face of numerous wars and oppression often fought in the name of religion. Listen to my interview with 83 y.o. Ruth Watson, who – as a Quaker – has spent much of her life supporting peace, mutual understanding and non-violent action for justice. In addition to describing some of the defining practices and beliefs of the Quakers, Ruth speaks about the many similarities with Buddhist thought and reflects on her service representing the Quakers on The United Nations Peace Committee.

Enjoy the interview with Ruth!

Warm wishes,

Jacqui

Most of us find periods of explicit uncertainty very difficult to handle with equanimity. Indeed, the urgent desire to ‘know’ the way forward — to escape that uncertainty — or change the scenario, can feel quite overwhelming. It is this desire for it to be different that causes the extreme suffering associated with the times when we know we don’t know. I’m thinking of times that we may be waiting for medical or academic test results. Or news from a loved one or awaiting our estranged partner’s decision to return home or set up house elsewhere. So many times when we know we have no control over what comes next. Read the rest of this entry …

I am moved to share with you my present experience of passing time, waiting the long seven hours at an airport before I can take the late night flight back to my home city, a further five and a half hours away. I am entirely responsible for this inconvenience as I have missed my planned flight. Although I have cut times tight before, I have never yet actually missed a flight. It is a timely lesson for me and I want to share with you some of my reactions to putting myself in this position. Read the rest of this entry …

It’s all very well to feel a compassionate response to hearing about a friend in trouble or pain, or to be strongly moved by a story on the news or in a documentary, but how can I put this compassion into action?

Tonglen is a long established Buddhist practice of taking into one’s heart the pain of another, or others, whether they be human, animal, bird or insect. I have heard some people expressing concern that by doing this you are inviting illness, or the particular form of suffering you are taking into your heart, to actually take root in your being and make you sick. But then I wonder why so many revered Buddhist teachers, from many different schools, strongly encourage their students to take up this practice, both for their own spiritual development and to relieve the suffering of others. Sogyal Rinpoche, for example,  Read the rest of this entry …

The audio interview with Cecilie Kwiat, a Canadian dharma teacher, based in Alberta, is now available. Cecilie has been primarily influenced by her, now deceased, root guru, Namgyal Rinpoche, of the Kargyu Tibetan Buddhist school. She has also practiced a wide range of dharma with teachers from Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Burma, India, China and Tibet, teaching from Vajrayana, Mahayana, Theravadin and Zen Buddhist schools.

In this (hour long) interview Cecilie shares how she has learned to live and work with her own physical pain and aging process and the physical and mental pain of others. She reflects on her distinctive and trusting attitude towards money, ranging over her experiences living on the street in her youth through to the last thirty or so years living “by the bowl”, dependent on free giving by others. She compares some of the basic similarities and differences between Buddhist and Western psychological approaches to suffering and healing, plus some of the similarities and differences in the relationships between therapists and their clients and teachers and their students. She emphasises the key importance of compassionate motivation and has some particularly interesting things to say about some unhelpful Western attitudes towards rituals that are seen as shaped by mystifying Eastern cultural influences but may actually be powerful vehicles for wisdom transmission, when explored with an open mind.

I hope you enjoy this stimulating interview as much as I did. I look forward to any comments or questions that it might evoke in you. 

Warm wishes,

Jacqui

The Dalai Lama is reported as recently addressing thousands of devotees in Ladakh, where he described the basic principles of Buddhism as a faith that stands for wisdom, compassion, peace and brotherhood. He also underlined the importance of spiritual development of mankind, particularly in the present time.

As he said, “there has to be openness, truth and compassion.This strife torn world needs the message of peace and progress now more than ever before”.  

TV filled with news of violence

I rarely watch the TV news these days as I find the strong bias towards stories of conflict, injustice and violence fills me with dismay and sorrow. Okay, I do follow up this reaction with a strong sense of compassion for both the victims and the reported aggressors, but I have come to the conclusion that it is not helpful to feed myself a daily dose of these distressing stories. Read the rest of this entry …

The  interview with His Eminence, Gyana Vajra Rinpoche of the Sakya Tradition, one of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism is now ready for listening. His Eminence is the youngest son of His Holiness the Sakya Trizin. He lives at the Sakya Centre in India and is currently initiating new and expanded educational opportunities for young monks attending the Sakya Academy, of which he is a founding member.

Amongst many interesting topics, H.E. Gyana Vajra Rinpoche talks about the development of faith in the children living in traditional Buddhist communities; the changes he is making in the education of young monks at Sakya Academy project; the influence of culture on the process of asking questions in a public teaching forum; the commitments attached to empowerments; the qualities associated with sacred languages and some difficulties associated with translations into the languages of Western countries.

He claims that there is nothing new or particularly challenging about such social problems as drug abuse and social isolation and dislocation that is often associated with Western capitalist influences and rapid technological developments but that, since the Buddha’s time, meditation and appropriate spiritual teaching helps alleviate these problems. He notes how the faith and spiritual understandings of young Tibetans living around the world is growing, largely as a result of improved education.

Sign in Now and listen.

I have just posted an interesting interview with His Eminence Dungsei Ratna Vajra Rinpoche of the Sakya Tradition, one of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. His Eminence is the eldest son of His Holiness the Sakya Trizin and one of the most important lineage holders in the Sakya Tradition. Read the rest of this entry …

Last week I began looking at compassion and the opposite human position: narcissism. I have had several significant experiences since then that I would like to reflect on. One of the fruits of teaching for three days last weekend on compassion and narcissism, followed by two days of excellent professional development training on working with couples in difficulty,  has been to further clarify the fundamental need for an open, compassionate heart if we wish to be happy. Read the rest of this entry …

I am just about to to go off for three days to teach on the contrasting human expressions of compassion and narcissism to a group of people interested in Buddhist psychotherapy. So my thoughts have been directed to considering these two aspects of our experience. They appear to be on opposing ends of a continuum, with compassion representing an open heart wishing to relieve the suffering of others, whether they be seen as friend or enemy or unknown to us directly.

Narcissism: a closed system!

Narcissism, in its extreme form, is on the other end of the compassion continuum. We all demonstrate some degree of narcissism, based on our habitual tendencies to perceive ourselves as separate, finite entities and to accordingly view the world through self-referencing filters that often ignore or give only fleeting attention to the interests of others.  The pathological, or extreme, quality of narcissism represents a more complete turning away from the world and interests of others and the defensive placing of ourselves and our interests as the central and only existing world. The interests of others are, often unconsciously, ignored or quickly over-written with our own interests. The invisible but controlling assumption is that I am the best, or the worst, and I know how it is. The usual result for those who find themselves in an intimate relationship with a very narcissistic person is to feel themselves excluded, as though their feelings, beliefs and needs don’t really exist. Read the rest of this entry …