Vajradarshini, teaching creative, contemporary Buddhism

Finding magic in the everyday

What can I tell you about me? This is an ‘about’ page, after all. But the truth is, you’re probably more interested in you. No offence intended—it’s just the way we’re wired. Each of us in under the illusion that the world revolves around us. How could it feel otherwise?

So what do I care about that might be relevant to you?

Bringing the Dharma alive - In an ideal world, we’d each have an awakened guide at our side. When people met the Buddha, they were encountering the teachings in human form—alive, embodied, and real. When we meet the teachings as words on a page (or a screen), the challenge is to bring them alive for ourselves. The mission of Red Ladder Studio is to help each person make the Dharma their own. The truth is universal, but the way we express it is unique.

Applying the Dharma to everyday life - My nan used to ask me, “How’s your Buddhism?” as if it were just one part of my life. But I see it differently: all of life is an opportunity to practice. Someone once asked Sangharakshita, the founding teacher of my order, “How do I get a mind like yours?” His reply was unexpected. He didn’t say “study harder” or “meditate longer,” but simply: “Reflect on everything that happens to you.” When we look at our daily lives through the lens of the Dharma, insight begins to grow.

Finding opportunities to practice - Awakening takes intensity, but that doesn’t mean abandoning everyday life to live on a mountaintop retreat. Believing that can make awakening feel out of reach. The truth is, every life—yours, mine, anyone’s—is full of opportunities for wholehearted practice. Red Ladder Studio is here to help you discover yours.

Taking a creative approach to the Dharma - Creativity is what brings the Dharma alive for me. Beyond words and concepts, I love making connections between Dharma, art, and culture. A melancholic film might bring alive the teaching on compassion, while our meditation means we’re more deeply moved by the film. Art and Dharma can shine a light on one another, each amplifying the truth and beauty in the other.

Red Ladder Studio sits at the junction between the Dharma, contemporary art and culture, and everyday life.

Fall in love with life again!

I think I’m in love with life because I’m in love with the Dharma. At the same time, I hold lightly to the label of ‘being a Buddhist’. What draws me again and again is the Dharma itself—the best way I’ve found to explore this mystery we call ‘life’.

I was 20 when I decided I wanted a life of meaning. I left ‘ordinary’ life behind and spent more than twenty years living in Buddhist retreat centres, working in city centres to share the Dharma, and living in communities with other Buddhists.

Over the years, I discovered that life itself is not an obstacle to practice. Quite the opposite. Ordinary life is where the magic unfolds. Today, that magic is rooted in the countryside of southern Sweden, where my wife and I have made our home. Here, we run small retreats from our garden and house, offering space for reflection, creativity, and connection to the Dharma in everyday life.

I began practising in 1988, and I’ve been teaching and leading retreats since 1997.

Frequently Asked Questions

How old are you and where are you from? I was born in 1967 in a little sea-side town called Gorleston, on the Norfolk coast in the UK.

What does your name mean? I received the name Vajradarshini when I was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 1997. It means, ‘she who sees reality’, or at least has the potential to do so. I’ve been looking ever since!

What advice do you have for anyone starting on the Buddhist path? Trust your instincts. The Dharma is about bringing an end to suffering and struggle, finding freedom and making peace with the way things are. When you start to follow a teaching or teacher, look for that taste of freedom. If it’s not there, then look elsewhere.

Your 3 favourite books right now?
Guy Newland’s ‘Introduction to Emptiness.’
Oliver Lang’s ‘Funny Weather, Art in an Emergency.’
Junichiro Tanizaki’s ‘In Praise of Shadows.’

What 3 Buddhist teachers have influenced you most? I encountered the Dharma through Sangharakshita and he has influenced me deeply. I learned to look for the essential principles that unify the teachings while also being open to many influences. He also made explicit the connection between art and Dharma. I’m grateful to Kevin Schanilec for opening up the path of the 10 fetters. And I go back repeatedly to the writings of Andrew Olendzki, who writes so beautifully about the Dharma.

What 3 people outside of the Buddhist world inspire you and why? Right now, it would be Leonard Koren for his writing on wabi-sabi; Laurie Anderson for her implicitly and explicitly Buddhist art such as ‘Heart of a Dog’ and ‘Songs from the Bardo’; Cornelia Parker for making art out of everyday life.