THE CREATIVE BUDDHIST NEWSLETTER

Dear Subscriber First Name,

The Dharma cannot transform our lives until we’ve made it our own. We have to breath life into the teachings, bring them alive with our own breath. This is the art of living a dharma life.

I’ve realised that this ‘bringing the Dharma alive’ is what I want the new Dharma Bundle to do, and it launches today! Here’s what one friend said about the old bundles:

The (original mark 1) Dharma Bundle was such an authentic gift from the well of knowing.. Aired monthly it was something to look forward to which is the essence of a good subscription. The creative content was highly original and tangible even on a screen in that you were right there living the now of the content, the teachings were very alive. Somehow the bundle brought people together which is no mean feat on that big wide web - got us all going for walks with our little earphones in listening to soundscapes. Bundle is a good word for what you deliver. A delivery of Dharma. The videos of you faffing about were a real highlight, they got us sharing your garden and I felt like my clothes smelled of smoke after you lit the bonfire.

Traditionally this process of making the Dharma our own is talked about as the 3 wisdoms, wisdom through hearing, wisdom through reflecting and wisdom through meditating.

I was on a retreat with Vajradevi over new year and she was telling us how one of her teachers, Sayadaw U Tejaniya, described the three levels of wisdom as ‘borrowed wisdom’, ‘intelligence’ and ‘insight’.

I love these translations so I’m using them in the article below to unpack my own thoughts on them. It was thinking about these 3 wisdoms that gave me a new angle on the Dharma Bundle. It’s about making the essential teachings our own, making them real and relevant.

On my radar this week

Podcast and online retreat: Tejananda - Loved listening to Tejananda talking about his up-coming online retreat. He’s so candid about insight and emptiness, his confidence in our ability to realise these in our own lives is infectious. The retreat is inspired by Analayo’s Compassion and Emptiness in early Buddhism, one of my favourite books. It leads you, in meditation, from compassion through different stages of emptiness. I’d love to be on the retreat but it’s over Easter when I’m away, maybe you can make it?

Film: Anatomy of a fall - I’ve been catching up with some of the Oscar nominated films and this one was special. One measure for how good I think a film is, is how long it stays with me. I never like to know too much about a film before I see it so I’m reluctant to give anything away about Anatomy of a Fall. The main character in this is so unlike anyone you’ve met in other films. It’s a long film and for two and a half hours I not only didn’t know what I thought, I also didn’t know what I felt!

Exhibition: Yoko Ono’s Music of the Mind - The Dharma Bundle always include ‘assignments’, non conceptual ways of exploring the world. Yoko Ono is the queen of creative assignments, see her book Grapefruit, so I’m looking forward to seeing Music of the Mind in April. I have a rare few days in London, what else should I see?

Book: Cal Newport’s Slow Productivity - Cal Newport is known for his work on digital minimalism and deep work. I’ve preordered his new book which comes out this week. ‘Slow Productivity’ centres around 3 ideas. Do fewer things, work at a natural pace, and obsess over quality. It might not look like I’ve been ‘doing fewer things’ recently but these three are forming a foundation for my year (and I haven’t even read the book yet!). Here he’s being interviewed on the Rich Roll Podcast.

Diary extracts

Napping

I used to nap in the afternoons because I was tired. In retrospect it looks like my blood sugar was all out. These days, with a bit of fasting and avoiding carbs first thing, my energy is much more steady. But even though I don’t get that afternoon slump I’m reintroducing the naps! I was inspired by an email offering a free napping workshop, yes, how to nap! (who knew you needed a workshop for that?)

Napping has never been a problem for me, I think it is in my genes. Both my parents would take an after lunch nap, in fact my dad would nap at the dinner table, head resting in his hand. My nap goes like this, take a small coffee to bed, sip coffee while reading and waiting for that sleepy feeling, finally nod off, perhaps even just for a few moments. Then wake up, just as the coffee is kicking in! The nap bonus is that it adds another reading opportunity to the day, in fact the nap is more reading than sleeping.

Do you need a theme tune?

The Wabi-sabi Workplace is starting on Monday, I’m so happy to have a little crew to work with and I’m really hopeful we can help each other to grow our businesses in ways that are enjoyable.

I’ve been revisiting Amelia Hruby’s 100 social media alternatives. It’s a list of ways to connect and grow your business without social media, and it’s so much fun. I’ve chosen these from the list to work on next: write yourself a theme song, I’m delegating this to my teenage son; make a zine; collaborate with a friend on a project, I’ve got some new collaborations simmering away; and lastly, learn more about SEO so people actually see your website!

There’s still time to join us if you are a freelancer looking for work mates, a little structure and some help with your business.

A quote I’m thinking about:

“I really think I write about everyday life. I don't think I'm quite as odd as others say I am. Life is intrinsically, well, boring and dangerous at the same time. At any given moment the floor may open up. Of course, it almost never does; that's what makes it so boring.”

― Edward Gorey