Hi everyone. Last night I attended a Mitra group to talk about and answer some concerns and questions about Bhante and Triratna’s past. Interestingly this has come up a few times recently. In this particular group I visited there are a number of women about to have their Mitra ceremonies on Parinirvana Day on February 15th. They wanted the opportunity to clarify - or at least approach - the topic. I hope it was helpful. It occurred to me that, although I hope people becoming

Happy new year. So, here we are in 2026 and GREAT NEWS for the start of the year! All our planning permission requests have been granted. We are entering a new phase now of Woodside Crescent. It has been quite a journey already but, for many of us, it has been mainly spent in the waiting room. There are still details to be ironed out and some of the kulas which have been formed will now step into new or more action. There is much to be done and there will be more information

This will be the last blog of 2025 as I will be at Dhanakosa next week for the Women’s Winter retreat, something I absolutely love doing. I can’t remember exactly when I started to lead this but it was in the late 90s. I remember the millennium one and I had been doing it for a few years before that. The millennium one was fantastic. I remember Jyotipaksini brought fabulous fireworks and we welcomed in the year 2000 with a great fire and fireworks on the banks of the loch. Si

People often ask me why I decided to move back to Glasgow. It certainly wasn’t for the weather. Why do we settle somewhere? It’s sometimes quite complex, sometimes simple - a job, a person, serendipity. For me, it was definitely coming home. I love Glasgow. Of course, it’s no utopia and it has its share of problems. Sadly there is racism, homophobia and all the other guises of prejudice but I like to hope that there is also a welcoming spirit here that predominates and I cert

It’s December which seems unbelievable to me! Where did this year go to? It has been a very full and rich year with a strong presence (for me at least) of Padmasambhava. This evening (Tuesday) I will give a talk on the practice of Transference of Merits, the final stage of the Puja. When thinking about this, it is natural to look back over the actions, from which one’s merits have accumulated. So that has been a bit of a filter in thinking back over 2025. This probably isn’t

Hi from Valencia. I head home later today and I am really looking forward to being back in Glasgow, colder weather and all. More than anything, I am looking forward to seeing friends, sleeping in my own bed and being warm indoors. Houses here are not made for the cold weather and it has been cold here - warmer outside than inside. Anyway, enough about the weather. Really not the most interesting of things to write about. I said I would write a bit more about the college meeti

The college meeting already seems a long time ago but I did say I would write something so, here we are. Since it finished I have been on the team for the Padmasambhava’s Advice order retreat here at Adhisthana and that is quite intense. It is pretty all consuming so I need to make a bit of an effort to cast my mind back to the college meeting. There were 43 of us at the meeting which was pretty well a full house with public preceptors from all 6 areas of the community: Ocean

I’m at Adhisthana for the International College meeting. I will write more about that next blog post.  For now, I want to write about my experience of being a signatory for the Interfaith Glasgow Declaration. Some of you might recall that this year (2025) is the 850th anniversary of Glasgow being granted Royal Assent to becoming a Burgh, a milestone on its way to becoming becoming a City. In January, I took part in a Faith Leaders event in St Mungo’s Cathedral. This was one o

I am writing this in Adhisthana.  Recently my blog seems to be done on the move. I guess that is because I am away now quite a lot. I had almost a month in Mexico and I am now back down in Adhisthana for just over three weeks. That is for the college meeting and for an Order retreat based around Canto 103 of the Life and Liberation of Padmasambhava: The Advice to the 3 Fortunate Women on the Departure - yes that text again. It has been with me all year really. That text and t