Vince Cullen
M.A.R.A. and the Gatekeepers
BRN AcademyThe Pearl in Sorrow’s Hand
BRN AcademyI have recently been considering the nature of 'Dukkha' or 'suffering' or 'stress' in a Buddhist context, particularly how it plays itself out in my life.One ancient talk goes along the lines... “Now what, friends, is the noble truth of stress? Birth is stressful, illness is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful...” Birth, sickness,...
Concrete Beds and Wooden Pillows… Waking Up the Hard Way (or Finding Insight but not Serenity)
BRN AcademySixteen years ago, I sat my first 10-day silent ‘Anapansati’ retreat at Wat Suan Mokkh monastery in southern Thailand. Wat Suan Mokkh has a separate retreat centre famous for its basic accommodation which includes concrete beds and wooden pillows. There, from a seeming inability to meditate came a small but ultimately profound and eventually life-changing...
Cabbages and Condoms
BRN AcademyLife is naturally difficult and disappointing. All living creatures are programmed to seek security and safety, and as humans, we also seek certainty. As a result, we often live life as unconscious prisoners of fear. Fear of this world and of a next world, fear of sickness and of death, fear of insecurity and of...
Looking for the Truth – The ‘secret’ facts of life hidden in plain view
BRN AcademyHuman beings are not meant to be ‘happy’. We are compelled to keep chasing pleasure and to avoid pain. The Buddha presented a view of our existence as being a fragile process, ever changing, impermanent, inconstant, uncertain, subject to unavoidable pain and completely impersonal.And, he also offered us insights and tools that encourage and facilitate...
The Basic Pattern of Things: Managing Expectations
BRN AcademyThe Buddha's First Truth or Realisation was "Life is painful and then you die." If this is true, then how do we respond to the disappointments of life and the certainty of death? This session will explore how we are conditioned to protect, promote and satisfy a 'self' which can never be satisfied. As the...
Vince Cullen – Higher Truths & Advanced Understandings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBSGDTNgIaM The Buddha's first official teaching was given to ‘noble ones’, that is the five ascetics who trained alongside Gautama, seeking an end to the suffering of this existence and an end to future rebirths. The way out of suffering, the Buddha said, was the Middle Way; the middle path between the extremes of sensual existence....
Freedom without Expectations
The King Alfred School 149 N End Rd, London, United KingdomThe way out of suffering, the Buddha said, is the Middle Way; the middle path between the extremes of sensual existence. The first and most critical step of the Middle Way is appropriate understanding. And the first things we need to understand correctly are the realities, limitations and possibilities of being human. The Buddha’s primary...