CREATIVE MEDITATION

I’m Vajradarshini, a contemporary, down-to-earth Buddhist teacher. I love connecting the Dharma with art and culture, and grounding it in the grittiness of ordinary, everyday life.

Red Ladder Studio is where you’ll find most of what I’m creating — from writings and online workshops to in-person retreats.

I also send out a newsletter every two weeks, focused on creative Dharma. You can sign up below.

You can learn more about me on the about page, and see what I’m currently exploring on the now page.

I’m always happy to connect with people around the Dharma. Feel free to get in touch by email.

BRINGING BUDDHISM TO LIFE

Workshops and retreats

Featured

Aug 8

Beauty and Insight: A retreat on perception

The Guesthouse, Southern Sweden The arts offer us new and surprising windows on the world. Alongside Dharma teachings and meditation, we’ll be exploring what art, film, poetry, and music can reveal about the nature of perception.

Sept 5

Autumn gardening retreat

The Guesthouse, Southern Sweden Our gardening retreats weave together mindful work, meditation, and Dharma study. On this retreat we'll draw inspiration from the Zen tradition, especially Dogen, with its emphasis on work as a spiritual practice.

Sept 19

The Here and Now Mountain: Ten Fetters Retreat

The Guesthouse, Southern Sweden Enlightenment is the state of being awake. And the Ten Fetters are ten illusions or beliefs that keep us from waking up. The Buddha showed us how—like him—we can see through these illusions, breaking the fetters one by one.

Oct 30

Beauty and Insight

Rivendell Retreat Centre, UK - This retreat is an invitation to look closely at how experience takes shape—how we see, feel, and make meaning of the world around us. When we begin to see the extent to which we are creating our world, we can begin to choose—consciously and creatively—to shape a world of beauty and meaning.

Nov 13

The Here and Now Mountain

Dhanakosa Retreat Centre, UK - Enlightenment is the state of being awake. And the Ten Fetters are ten illusions or beliefs that keep us from waking up. The Buddha showed us how—like him—we can see through these illusions, breaking the fetters one by one.

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Writing

Featured

theguesthouse, retreat, meditation

June at the Guesthouse

theguesthouse, retreat, meditation

A few diary entries covering midsummer at the guesthouse. Read about what we’ve been up to and what plans we are hatching for the future.

theguesthouse, retreat, meditation

4 noble truths, dukkha, buddhanature, awakening, suffering

The medicine we keep rediscovering

4 noble truths, dukkha, buddhanature, awakening, suffering

Essential teachings can be rediscovered, over and over. Here are my four new realisations about the Four Noble Truths.

4 noble truths, dukkha, buddhanature, awakening, suffering

theguesthouse, retreat, meditation

May at the Guesthouse

theguesthouse, retreat, meditation

May at The Guesthouse saw the arrive of our new meditation tent and the first retreat of the year, the spring garden retreat.

theguesthouse, retreat, meditation

potential, sky, emptiness, grounded, ground, perception

The ground seems empty but…

potential, sky, emptiness, grounded, ground, perception

There are two images for emptiness in Buddhism: one is a ‘clear blue sky’, the other is ‘the ground’. They each carry a different message.

potential, sky, emptiness, grounded, ground, perception

nonjudgement, acceptance, buddhism, procrastination, resistance, enjoyment, perfectionism, henonism, hedonist

Buddhism for hedonists

nonjudgement, acceptance, buddhism, procrastination, resistance, enjoyment, perfectionism, henonism, hedonist

Sometimes the things that matter most to us are the hardest to do. I’ve noticed that the more meaningful a task feels, the stronger the resistance — as if my longings and my fears are somehow linked.

nonjudgement, acceptance, buddhism, procrastination, resistance, enjoyment, perfectionism, henonism, hedonist