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Buddhism

Are Spirits Real? AyahuascaBuddhismSpiritualityTeacher Plants

Are Spirits Real?

Sooner or later, everyone working with ayahuasca has to come to terms with this issue. Who, or what, are those beings we’re seeing in ceremony? What do ayahuasqueros mean when they talk about spirits; the spirit of ayahuasca, for example, or los genios of the plants? What does Santo Daime mean when it speaks of spirit possession, or of hymns transmitted by spirits? Are spirits ‘real,’ in the sense of independently existing entities—or are they the ephemeral projections of our…
Apr 10, 2018
Tonglen and the Evening News BuddhismSpirituality

Tonglen and the Evening News

The tidal waves rolled out from the epicenter at 500 miles an hour, the speed of a jetliner, taking up to ten hours to reach foreign shores. It took a few more days for the searing images to reach the television screen and the newspapers. Then the wave hit my heart, full bore. And rocked it. I sat at the computer weeping at the sight of an Indian fisherman holding his dead eight-year-old son. A mother in Sri Lanka wailing…
Mar 31, 2017
Ayahuasca & Meditation AyahuascaBuddhismSpirituality

Ayahuasca & Meditation

Perhaps the single most important integration practice is some form of regular meditation. Working with ayahuasca can rattle the cage of who you think you are, dismantling your tidy self-definitions. While ultimately this leads to expansion and growth, feelings of fear, anxiety, and confusion can arise along the way. This is where meditation enters the picture. A regular practice allows you to sit and work with disturbing emotions without being swept away by internal stories about the Bad that is…
Mar 3, 2017
Medicine For These Times AyahuascaBuddhismSociety

Medicine For These Times

Ayahuasca is spreading around the globe with astonishing rapidity. Increasing numbers of people are turning to it as a treatment of last resort, seeking a remedy for depression, anxiety, and trauma. Even more are searching for a spiritual catalyst, an emotional reboot from the meaninglessness that marks these alienated times. Sometimes, they find it. Ayahuasca can wipe the slate clean, offering a new start. This does not occur without difficulty, nor in a single session—but the possibility of someone getting…
Jan 25, 2017
Wisdom & Compassion, Part I BuddhismDepth PsychologySpirituality

Wisdom & Compassion, Part I

This is Part I of an article I wrote in 2004 on integrating depth psychology with Buddhist meditation. A .pdf of the entire piece is available here William James, the American writer and psychologist, predicted a century ago that Buddhism would deeply influence Western psychology. Far ahead of his time as usual, James’ prediction is beginning to materialise. Western psychotherapists are increasingly incorporating Buddhist principles and practices, applying them in ways suited to our own modern culture. We see this…
Feb 4, 2004
Wisdom & Compassion, Part II BuddhismDepth PsychologySpirituality

Wisdom & Compassion, Part II

Part II of an article I wrote in 2004 on integrating depth psychology with Buddhist meditation. A .pdf of the entire piece is available here. The simplest proposition is also the most radical: that our basic nature is open space infused with pure awareness. Beyond all our constructs and beneath all our holding, each of us is no more and no less than spacious awareness – the capacity to know, pure and simple. This “empty essence fused with luminous knowing”…
Feb 3, 2004