In this part of the site you will find a selection of articles and transcripts of talks that I have given over the last few years. I’ve also added a few poems. I plan to add to it regularly, so do come and check it out from time to time.
Entering the Forest
This is an article that I wrote for a magazine called Madhyamavani. It recounts the story of my ordination into the Western Buddhist Order in 1974, on a night of wild imaginings. Then it jumps forward 27 years to being on the other side of the fence, performing ordinations myself.
Patrul Rinpoche talk: ‘Here You Are Again, Driving Yourself Crazy!’
This is the edited transcript of a talk that I originally gave in Manchester. It was the first of a series of three about Patrul Rinpoche, who is one of my Dharma heroes: a 19th century Nyingma lama, Dzogchen master, and amazing character! The talk focuses on his encounter with someone who tries to steal a nugget of silver from him, and draws out some pointers to help stop us driving ourselves crazy…
Here Be Dragons – Disasters, Dilemmas and Dead Ends on the Spiritual Quest
This is a talk that I gave in 2002. Traditional Buddhism has several ways of mapping what happens as you follow the Buddhist Path. But many of them bear little resemblance to the actual experience of Westerners trying to practise Buddhism in the 21st century. This talk draws on my experience of some of my own spiritual disasters and Dharma dilemmas over the years, to chart some aspects of what you may find as a Buddhist practitioner in the West. It was given to an audience of men (members of the Western Buddhist Order who had all been practising meditation for several years) but several of my women friends have told me they’ve found it useful too.
Audio Recordings at Dharmachakra
This is a website (up and running from December 2006) that holds a huge archive of recordings of Dharma talks. If you search you’ll find about 35 different recordings of talks that I’ve given over the years. There are some gems and nuggets in them, but please be aware that some of them date from the 70s and 80s, and my approach to Buddhism has developed a lot since then.
Poetry
I don’t think of myself as a poet, but occasionally on meditation retreats I find myself writing something. These are some poems that people have asked for copies of: