Dharma Library

In the Buddhist tradition, masters make different statements about helping others. Some warn that improving the world should always start with oneself, because until one helps oneself, one cannot help others. By acting from a disturbed mind, we harm rather than help. The Tibetan yogi Milarepa said of helping: “If there is not the slightest degree of self-interest in such earthly matters, this is…

Silence…
What is there?
What IS there?

Chestnut bud in a vase
Feels pain in her green petals forcibly opened
By a greedy glance

Achoo!!!
The whole universe
Broke into pieces 

This mouthful of tea
Never drunk before
Nor ever again

An old monk
Slowly walking step by step
Through a violent storm

Frost
Winter may come any day now
Where has the last one gone? 

The stream
Flowing all the time
Never tired

Sprin…

War – sudden, cruel, brutal. In besieged cities people are dying from lack of food and water. Hospitals, schools and humanitarian corridors are being shelled. Civilians serve as human shields. Groups of people, including children, have been abducted deep into enemy territory.

Heroism and sacrifice of some, meanness and perfidy of others, indifference of yet others. Our disbelief, indignation,…

Right speech, part of the Noble Eightfold Path, is defined as speaking without lying, verbal aggression, intriguing, slandering or idle chatter. In recent times, a Swedish psychologist Marshall Rosenberg has developed a way of speaking more effectively and honestly, called nonviolent communication (NVC). It not only promotes ways of practising right speech, but also supports meditation practice. 

When we meditate, we try to make our minds bright. It is not so easy! At first we find our habitual scattered thoughts, confusions, distractions and nervous tensions, and gradually we try to let them go; we allow them to calm down, relax, and eventually melt away. We put special effort, attention and energy into this.

We try to return to the present moment, the sense of place, the feeling of…

Meditation, spirituality and religion can work together; however, they can also work apart.

We can meditate as if doing a technical exercise, engaging neither spirituality nor religion. Meditation works then on the psychological level, similarly to psychotherapy or personal development training. It is usually undertaken to improve our personal situation from within. We don’t feel comfortable…

Meditation itself cannot be replaced by any words that can be said about it. But before setting off on a journey, it is worth having a look at a map.

Meditation means investigating the mind: observing it and its phenomena directly and non-verbally. Meditation means listening to the silence of the mind. It is the exploration of a realm beyond everyday din. However, it is not easy to keep our…