Free: A Most Inspiring Book
I originally posted the following in 2015 – and I’ve decided to re-post it here, because I think Buddhadasa Bhikku, and his book – Handbook for Mankind – are wonderful sources of information,… Continue reading
Category Archive: Vipassana
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Will Meditation Heal Me?
Question: I suffer from chronic fatigue, and meditation has been recommended, as was your blog. I went through your posts and though it was very interesting, I didn’t find anything specifically dealing with… Continue reading
To Succeed, Learn to Fail
Most people, when they decide to try meditation, assume it’ll be easy. And the books and spruikers and ads for meditation and mindfulness classes certainly make meditation seem easy. After all, how hard… Continue reading
Changing the Nature of Thinking
Question: I go to a Zen teacher here in Seattle. He tells us that we should observe our thoughts during meditation? I’m not sure what this means. How can I observe my thoughts… Continue reading
Building Awareness To Change Habits
Everything we are, and everything we do, arises from a habit.All our skills and abilities, our cravings and addictions, whether good or bad, as well as our physical form, our emotional profile and… Continue reading
The Path To Enlightenment
In bumbling through YouTube last night, I happened upon an extraordinary video. I say ‘extraordinary’ because the information it conveys is so unusually lucid – particularly given the subject of the video is… Continue reading
How Do I ‘Watch My Thoughts’?
Hi Roger, I’m hoping you can help me with a confusing thing that happens when I meditate. I go to a local meditation group and the teacher told us to watch our thoughts… Continue reading
The Meditation Audio Course is Back
A few years ago, (well, almost a decade ago – golly how time flies), after I closed Practical Meditation & Counselling and began travelling (again), I recorded the entire course as a series… Continue reading
Letting Go of The Struggle
The question: Hi Roger. I’ve been meditating most days for a while now and it feels like I’m in a losing battle with my mind. No matter how hard I try my attention… Continue reading
Beware of Beautiful Information
I got an email the other day, from a woman who was keen to bounce her knowledge of Buddhist lore off me, and engage in an exchange of ideas. And she knew a… Continue reading
Am I Enlightened?
A few days ago I got this rather curt question from one of my readers: ‘Roger, I read your posts with great interest and I’m thinking of buying your book. I have a… Continue reading
Suffering And Kamma – A Wonderful Talk by Ajahn Jayasaro
The words ‘suffering’ and ‘kamma’, as core principles in Theravada Buddhism, are very much misunderstood by many. In this illuminating talk, Ajahn Jayasaro brings them to life as aspects of the path to… Continue reading
Releasing The Breath
I recently spoke with a friend who had just begun meditating – she was having difficulty with using her breath as a main object. She said as soon as she turned her attention… Continue reading
The Way to Stillness
Question: Roger, I read your book and I get what you’re saying about how meditation isn’t all fairy dust and bliss, and how we’ve got to build a mental and physical skillset to… Continue reading
Thich Nhat Hanh: Know How to Suffer to Suffer Less
A friend referred me to the following video by one of the great contemporary meditation masters, Thich Nhat Hanh, in which he talks about how essential it is to learn how to suffer.… Continue reading
Routine is Everything
So let’s get back to basics.Essentially, meditation is no big deal. The problem is, people keep making it into a big deal – investing all kinds of significance into a skill which, ironically,… Continue reading
The Immaculate Inbetween
Question: ‘Hi Roger … In stories of the Buddha that I’ve read, enlightenment seemed very easy to people. Just by listening to the Buddha, they used to suddenly become enlightened. Is this just… Continue reading
What Are You?
Everywhere I go, in various iterations, I keep hearing the same question: ‘Who am I?’ People pose this question as if somehow, if only they could find an answer, it would solve all… Continue reading
The Monk and The Bell.
Back in the 90’s, when I was researching stuff during the writing of my first book on meditation, ‘Happy to Burn’, I happened to find a fascinating article, (long since lost) which clarified… Continue reading
Keep It Simple
Meditation is very simple – just sit still with your attention resting lightly on the breath. Notice what arises in the mind and body, accept that it’s there, let it go and return… Continue reading
It’s Not About Relaxation
I think for this post I’ll get back to basics. It’s in response to a question a friend asked me the other day … a very, very … very … basic question which… Continue reading
Being Mindful
I replied to this on Quora, and thought it might make a good addition to this blog (the drawing to the right has nothing to do with it … it’s just something I… Continue reading
The Trap of Wondrous Meditation Experiences
“Hi Roger … I notice in your book you deal with the presence of pain and anxiety and the lack of calm that most of us experience in meditation, but you don’t describe… Continue reading