nigelwellingsMar 92 minUp and DownSeems like we need to make up stories about how things work to make us feel good and keep the chaos at bay. Just thinking about two of...
nigelwellingsMar 44 minWhat's Hidden in the WoodshedChristopher Perry and Rupert Tower, two Jungian analysts, are about to have published a book of essays entitled, Jung's Shadow Concept:...
nigelwellingsFeb 242 minForgive and ForgetDuring a filmed conversation between the late Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu and H.H. the Dalai Lama, His Holiness said we should forgive but...
nigelwellingsFeb 112 minThere is a Crack in EverythingA member of our mindfulness group said that she felt fundamentally flawed and it made no difference how much she sat with it, the feeing...
nigelwellingsJan 262 minWhat's in a Cow's Udder?Is it really possible to understand Buddhism the way a Tibetan does? Talking with a new friend about translating from the Tibetan I am...
nigelwellingsDec 31, 20212 minI Can’t Work This OutHere's the thing. In an earlier blog I tried to work out the relationship of a felt-sense (by which I mean the simpler definition of...
nigelwellingsDec 27, 20212 minSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandYou know how when you listen to the Beatles extraordinary Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band you suddenly realise that you could hear...
nigelwellingsSep 30, 202110 minEvolution of Mindfulness 6.Zen This is our last session. We will have a peek at Zen and its origins within Chinese Buddhism. I have found a strange paradox in Zen,...
nigelwellingsSep 30, 20216 minEvolution of Mindfulness 5.Dzogchen, the Great Perfection As we saw last time, Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, is the pinnacle of the Nyingma nine vehicle system...
nigelwellingsSep 27, 202111 minEvolution of Mindfulness 4.Sex and Violence – Tantra 2. Now for something quite different. From its first tentative emergence sometime during the second century...
nigelwellingsSep 27, 202112 minEvolution of Mindfulness 3Mahāyāna & Tantric Buddhism 1. This week we are going to look at an exciting development in Buddhism – the emergence of the ‘Mahāyāna’ –...
nigelwellingsSep 27, 202112 minEvolution of Mindfulness 2.Theravāda Buddhism and the way of purification Nothing remains the same and this is also true of Buddhism. After the Buddha died his...
nigelwellingsSep 27, 202115 minEvolution of Mindfulness 1.The Way of the Śramaṇa – Early mindfulness I love the word Śramaṇa, it means ‘ascetic’ but a more fun way to translate it is ‘spiritual...
nigelwellingsSep 26, 20216 min Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta 10.Realisation So at last we come to the end of Sutta which is a prediction of how long, if we practice, it will take to become awakened...
nigelwellingsSep 26, 202112 minSatipaṭṭhāna Sutta 9.Investigation of Dhammas The Four Noble Truths So finally we come to the last Dhamma section – the four noble truths. This may seem a...
nigelwellingsSep 26, 202111 minSatipaṭṭhāna Sutta 8.Mindfulness of Dhammas The Awakening Factors It seems that so much of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta has been about being mindful of our crazy...
nigelwellingsSep 26, 202115 minSatipaṭṭhāna Sutta 7.Mindfulness of Dhammas The Sense Spheres If the last satipaṭṭhāna concerned how we add an unnecessary ‘self’ to the experience of who we...
nigelwellingsSep 26, 202113 minSatipaṭṭhāna Sutta 6.Mindfulness of Dhammas: The Aggregates On a personal note finally understanding what the Buddha was getting at with his concept of the...
nigelwellingsSep 25, 202123 minSatipaṭṭhāna Sutta 5.Mindfulness of Dhammas This is the fourth and final Satipaṭṭhāna consisting five sections on the hindrances, aggregates, sense spheres,...
nigelwellingsSep 25, 20216 minSatipaṭṭhāna Sutta 4.Mindfulness of mind – Citta The third pasture of mindfulness is contemplation of the mind – for which the Pãli word is citta. In this...