Balancing Inner Work And Selflessness At A Monastery (As A Lay Resident)

Reflections on a balance between personal spiritual practice and selfless service as a lay resident in a Buddhist monastery in England. Key themes include emotional complexities, cultural differences between England and America regarding helpfulness, the importance of healthy boundaries to prevent burnout, and guidance from the heart in discernment.

Thoughts And Questions On “The Mystery Of The Breath Nimitta” Or, The Case Of The Missing Simile By Ajahn Sona

While I have still maintained my moratorium on writing and talking solo about jhāna and nimitta, from time to time I do speak with others and discuss others’ writings on the topic, as I do here with “The Mystery of the Breath Nimitta: Or, The Case of the Missing Simile — An Essay on AspectsContinue reading “Thoughts And Questions On “The Mystery Of The Breath Nimitta” Or, The Case Of The Missing Simile By Ajahn Sona”

Current Practice Share | “Meditation Q & A With Wendy Nash” #32

In this thirty-second installment of the ongoing live series with Wendy Nash inquiring into meditation practice on and off the cushion we plan to share our current (meditation) practices. Stuff like what they are, for how long we’ve been doing them, how they are going, why we are doing them, etc. asking each other (specific)Continue reading “Current Practice Share | “Meditation Q & A With Wendy Nash” #32”

Depth, Integration, and Navigating Spiritual Terrain: In Conversation With Tina Rasmussen

Before I toss this over to AI to summarize / describe our conversation I want to take back that I said Tina “completed the grueling Samatha phase” which of course is anything but grueling. In fact, it is actually beautiful in the beginning, beautiful in the middle and beautiful in the end. I was reachingContinue reading “Depth, Integration, and Navigating Spiritual Terrain: In Conversation With Tina Rasmussen”

Compassion In Action | “Meditation Q & A With Wendy Nash” #31

In this thirty-first installment of the ongoing live series with Wendy Nash inquiring into meditation practice on and off the cushion we went into formal compassion practice and how it can help with demonstrating compassion in daily life Ai basically summarizes thus: This episode Compassion in Action explores how mindfulness fosters a deeper, more engagedContinue reading “Compassion In Action | “Meditation Q & A With Wendy Nash” #31”

The Eight Vicissitudes Or Worldly Winds | “Meditation Q & A With Wendy Nash” #30

In this thirtieth installment of the ongoing live series with Wendy Nash inquiring into meditation practice on and off the cushion we explore the Eight Vicissitudes or Worldly Winds. I sometimes consider these as somewhat a psychology class crash course. While these don’t often seem to have a direct connection with formal meditation practices theyContinue reading “The Eight Vicissitudes Or Worldly Winds | “Meditation Q & A With Wendy Nash” #30”

Chanting Practice Notes

The description for this Feb 11, 2025 live event: I’ll go into detail of lots of stuff from the notes of noticing and observations I’ve had around the direct experience of (group) chanting practice which doesn’t come easily and naturally to me and yet can be quite a profound practice at times AI basically summarizedContinue reading “Chanting Practice Notes”

Skillfully Progressing Contact Beyond The Human Realm: Sutta Study With Randi Green — At Gaia Head (AN 8.64)

[Note: Randi of https://toveje.dk uses her own terminology so it mixes around the standard, currently established notion of the three realm classification* of desire realm, form realm and formless realm. However, plenty still meshes and aligns with this standardization too. She brings her direct experience to bear on this sutta of which a few translationsContinue reading “Skillfully Progressing Contact Beyond The Human Realm: Sutta Study With Randi Green — At Gaia Head (AN 8.64)”

Partners, Teams And Community | “Meditation Q & A With Wendy Nash” #29

In this twenty-ninth installment of the ongoing live series with Wendy Nash — where we delve into meditation practice both on and off the cushion — we focus on the relational aspects of partners, teams, and communities. Recently, it seems we’ve been somewhat overlooking the more meditative dimensions of our chosen topics. While this episodeContinue reading “Partners, Teams And Community | “Meditation Q & A With Wendy Nash” #29”