Teacher's Blog
This blog contains reflections, encouragement, and occasional instruction from Sutrayana teacher Neil McKinlay. Click on any thumbnail below to read a full post. To comment and converse, select 'Teacher's Blog Discussion' at the bottom of a post, then click the appropriate title / topic thread. Neil often takes part in discussion for one post until another appears.
Ordinary Mystery
February 27, 2019 | Neil McKinlay
It’s Sunday evening here. For the past two weeks, I’ve had my head down working with other members of program leadership to ready this site for launch. We’re not there yet, but I can feel things inching closer by the hour ...
The Lord of Speech
March 12, 2019 | Neil McKinlay
What ideologies do I live by? This question arose as I contemplated the particular area of grasping and fixation noted by the lord of speech. What “set of categories” do I use to manage my life? ‘Liberalism,’ came to mind. ‘Consumerism.’ ‘Buddhism.’ Then, as if not satisfied with replies to date, my body added: ‘Others must always come first.’
The Lord of Form
March 26, 2019 | Neil McKinlay
If the Lord of Form points toward our preoccupation with a life that looks a certain way - filled with particular things and appearances - I was fully under its sway, fixated upon a sleep pattern that needed to be like that.
The Lord of Mind
April 1, 2019 | Neil McKinlay
"The Lord of Mind rules when we use spiritual and psychological disciplines as the means of maintaining our self-consciousness, of holding onto our sense of self.”
Contemplation One
April 8, 2019 | Neil McKinlay
One characteristic of materialism is grasping and fixating. This characteristic manifests in the body in a range of tension-related ways - clenching, gripping, holding, nausea, and so on - that are often referred to as ‘suffering’. Look at these manifestations as they appear for you today. Do not judge. Do not analyze. Do not evaluate. Simply look and see, feel and sense.
Contemplation Two
April 9, 2019 | Neil McKinlay
After yesterday, there is a heightened awareness of tension. Under the influence of this, I find myself checking in as I make my way down a sunny street. Every time I direct attention in this way - every time I turn awareness into the body in search of holding - my gait changes. My torso angles forward. My forehead folds in on itself. My pace picks up. Tension intensifies everywhere.
Contemplation Three
April 10, 2019 | Neil McKinlay
I can’t shake yesterday. That sense of walking down the street, of lurching after impulse and feeling its impact - I’ve not been able to shake this. So today I am standing in the middle of our living room and watching this dynamic repeat itself while I am not moving.
Contemplation Four
April 11, 2019 | Neil McKinlay
Let me say a little more about my experience with impulse: After spending time with the lurking that arises with impulse, I seem to have a measure of familiarity with this dynamic. I am much more able to locate how impulse manifests than I was only days ago.
Somatic Responsiveness
April 20, 2019 | Neil McKinlay
One of the gifts of this program is the extent to which we are taught by our peers. Much of the power we encounter in the discussion forums arises from this. In post after post, people share experience and insight and we feel it.
Welcome Refugees
April 27, 2019 | Neil McKinlay
One of the true delights of refuge is gathering. According to my dictionary, the term ‘to gather’ means “to bring or to come together” - and this is exactly what we do. From different locations, across different time zones and cultures, with varying backgrounds and living situations we come together to affirm a common interest in life.
