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TWO FILMS IN THE LAST EIGHT MONTHS

Articles / /

Late last year, I sat with unblinking attention to watch Downfall, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. This German made film charts the last days of the life of Adolf Hitler (played chillingly by Bruno Ganz) in the Berlin bunker as Hitler swings between ranting around German capitulation to polite small talk like a heavily drugged mental patient as his hand shook incessantly from Parkinson’s disease. Amidst the obscenity of it all, he marries Eva Braun in the midst of hell a couple of days before they commit suicide. Not having been to the cinema for so long, …

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TWO FILMS IN THE LAST EIGHT MONTHS Read More »

TWO MOVIES IN 16 YEARS

Articles / /

I apologise for not swelling the pockets of Hollywood celebrities. I remember Brad Pit commenting:
Buddhists say there are three kinds of bad karma. To be beautiful, to be rich and to be famous (or was it rich and shameless?). …

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TWO MOVIES IN 16 YEARS Read More »

A PARTNER AND A SPIRITUAL TEACHER

Communications / /

The next dharma e-news comes out in early August. I have written 21 tips, plus a PS (remember Anicca – Impermanence etc) to remember in an intimate relationship. The tips are glaringly obvious but small reminders won’t do us any harm.

I have been reflecting a little on my love life over the past 30 years. Roughly, I have been in a relationship more of this time than not in one. I have spent years and years exploring the synthesis of the role of partner and role of spiritual teacher. I don’t even call myself a spiritual teacher, but you know what I mean. …

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‘I NEED TO LISTEN TO MYSELF.’ Are you sure?

Dharma Reflections / /

‘I NEED TO LISTEN TO MYSELF.’ Are you sure?

A woman friend and I had a lengthy exploration together of the issue involving ‘self and other.’

Her voice had echoes of very similar voices that I hear frequently.

In a nutshell, here is what she said to me: “I have spent years listening to others. I have made so many sacrifices for my relationship and family.  …

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‘I NEED TO LISTEN TO MYSELF.’ Are you sure? Read More »

THE GUEST HOUSE – the Buddha probably inspired Rumi’s great poem

Dharma Reflections, Poems and Prose / /

THE GUEST HOUSE –

BY RUMI AND THE BUDDHA

Rumi, the 13th century Muslim poet from a Persian family, has deservedly won a place in our hearts for his sublime capacity to nourish the depth of our being with his perceptive insights into love, sensuality, spirituality and intimacy with the immediate world.

His poems strike a chord in the depths of our meditative being. Not surprisingly, insight meditation teachers delight to read Rumi’s poems to spiritual practitioners. One of his best loved poems is The Guest House. The Buddha used the same analogy around 1700 years earlier in two talks entitled The Guest House.

The words of the Buddha probably inspired Rumi to write The Guest House.

THE GUEST HOUSE
by Rumi

This being human is a guest house. …

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THE GUEST HOUSE – the Buddha probably inspired Rumi’s great poem Read More »

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