Creating space: inclusion in the dharma
2 Apr 2025
Who is the dharma for?
If the dharma isn't for everyone who shows an interest, then something has gone astray. Fundamentally, a teaching about the emptiness of all phenomena—about the lack of a fixed reality to any distinctions we make—should not be in the business of harmful discrimination. To discriminate on the grounds of a person's characteristics is clearly harmful and against the ethical...
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Refuge in wakefulness
25 Mar 2025
What do we take refuge in? What is it wise to take refuge in?
In Buddhism, it is said that there are three refuges we could rely on: buddha, dhamma, and sangha. We can understand these as:
The wakeful mind (Buddha)
The teachings that lead to a wakeful mind (dhamma)
The community of practitioners that value and help each other to develop wakefulness (sangha).
So, what do I take refuge in? It's...
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The hindrances are the lever; the obstacle is the way
12 Mar 2025
There is no wisdom in attacking a well-defended king if you are only moves away from being checkmated yourself. In game theory, a minimax strategy seeks to rule out your worst outcome. It means minimising the maximum you can lose. It's an inverted way of approaching our goals. Instead of reaching for the highest, we protect ourselves from the most unwanted outcomes first. Game theorists von...
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Three functions of the citta
19 Feb 2025
I recently came across some notes I had made on the three functions of the citta, what translators refer to as "the heart-mind". I'm not sure where this teaching comes from, but I suspect it's linked to the Thai Forest tradition. The three main functions of the citta are described as:
Feeling sensory impingement.
Responding to sensory impingement.
Understanding.
Now, the interesting...
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A meditation on the Brahmaviharas
17 Feb 2025
I recently led a meditation on the four Brahmaviharas, tuning into their boundless aspect particularly. This is a style of Brahmavihara meditation that's based on the suttas, in which you don't find the stock phrases about sending metta to various categories of beings.
Radiating the Brahamaviharas in the six directions.
Let's ground ourselves by feeling the contact between our body and the seat,...
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