Dharma Library

the guest house by rumi 

This being human is a guest house. 

Every morning a new arrival. 

A joy, a depression, a meanness, 

some momentary awareness comes 

as an unexpected visitor… 

Welcome and entertain them all! 

Be grateful for whoever comes, 

because each has been sent as a 

guide from beyond. 

Communicating in a group via the Internet during a viral pandemic has been an…

Caves are significant features in the sacred geography of the Himalaya. They are often in dramatic locations and form part of a larger mandalic landscape of mountains, lakes, valleys and rivers. Traditionally they are the preferred abode of those seeking contemplative isolation and many are alleged to have been inhabited by renowned tantric adepts such as Padmasambhava or the famous Tibetan yogi…

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know. 

– Donald Rumsfeld. Former US Defence Secretary 2002 

I’m thinking about knowing and not knowing. 

It's important to know things, isn’t it. Things like how to drive…

To write about a place which has made such a profound impact on my life, and to do so concisely and effectively, feels like quite a challenge; but one which I feel I must take on – both for myself and as an offering to the community of fellow members, with whom I have shared so many precious hours and days: times which contained the broadest possible range of human emotions – some of which I had…

I was thinking today that I really don’t know anyone who doesn’t like toast. I'm sure they are out there, but they must be few and far between. 

I love toast. 

Because my old trouble plays up now and then, I’m limited to sourdough, but I’ve got the knack of it. A while ago I noticed that I eat it in such a way as to provide the maximum amount of satisfaction. Eating bits I find boring first and…

1994 

I attend my first Western Zen Buddhist retreat at Maenllwyd. The small Welsh farmhouse stands on a hillside at the end of a rough track below a narrow wooded valley, which leads up to a bare horizon. It just sits there, with no electricity, amidst the fields of sheep, aloof and barely visible from the straggly village some way below. The eastern horizon offers wide skies for the sunrise and…

What is the Satipatthana Sutta? Taken from the early Pali canon it seems, at first, a straightforward teaching of the Buddha, but as I read articles and listened to online talks it opened out into something with an endless depth and opportunity for a lifetime of study. A nuanced, ever growing exploration of the human condition showcasing the Buddha’s skilful teaching. I have become mildly obsessed…

So, what might the Buddha have said nearly 2500 years ago as a means to resolve conflict, disputes and arguments? The solution to that question is perhaps even more relevant today, with a perceived increase in polarisation amongst groups as well as in our interpersonal relationships. 

Well, there is an account in a lesser known Sutta within the Pali Canon which may provide pointers. In the Kosamb…

Fanfares
celestial choirs
no
a soft ‘aha’
paradigm shifted 

eating my breakfast
cat on my lap
if I need to add to it
I have not grasped it 

I have misunderstood
we zen practitioners
need to
get over
our selves [sic]

just sit …
too simple …
we are desperate
to add to it … 

Don’t 

Drop attempts at explanation.
Drop teachings.
Sit.
Live life.
Nothing extra.
Nothing missing.
Nothing lasts.

Gratitude.

Hughie Carroll’s public début as a poet began on social media during the first national lockdown in May 2020. The variety of direct, colloquial, honest, and tender poems were immediately engaging: pared to the core and punchy. I joined with the many who encouraged what rapidly became two books of poetic memoir: Yarn and Sunshine and Shadow. 

The early poems take us to the perilous edges of being…