The Teaching Buddha

17/09/2026

16/09/2026

🌼 Boeddhisme in een notendop — Module 2: De kernthema's

Op zaterdag 19 september duiken we met monnik Lobsang Norbu (Maarten de Vries) verder in de kern van het boeddhisme. Deze module staat boordevol praktische en verdiepende thema's, zoals:

🧘 Shamatha (concentratiemeditatie)
⚖️ Karma: wat het is, en wat het niet is
✨ Negatief karma zuiveren, positief karma verzamelen
☞️ Het levenswiel: saṃsāra en nirvāṇa
📜 Boeddhistische ethiek, voorschriften en geloften
🌿 De rol van de spirituele leraar
🌐 De Lam Rim traditie en de 'drie hoofdzaken' van het pad
💝 Bodhichitta — het ultieme 'goede hart'

Je hoeft de andere modules niet gevolgd te hebben om mee te doen. Inclusief begeleide meditatie, vegetarische lunch en een uitgebreide hand-out om mee naar huis te nemen. Live in Loenen of via Zoom te volgen.

Meer info & aanmelden: https://www.maitreya.nl/nl/bin-2-1

14/09/2026

For all my Hindu friends: Happy Ganesh Chaturthi days! 💖
Today is an important day: this morning the doctors of my husband confirmed the total remission of cancercells after close reading and analysing the last scans. So Happy Ganesh Chaturthi it is…. ! Yes, still many obstacles to take, but with lots of love, hope and trust we go on, step by step 🙏🏻🪔🙏🏻
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4HFXGvisO87h06aXK2BWp2?si=LsmpT_bcT3aCsrPtt99Wgg&utm_source=copy-link&pi=63UHYoQZRhSu2

09/09/2026

I think this is a very interesting article on how to keep the dharma relevant and alive in these times. Or, in other words, how to relate to the contemporary mind and different cultures with the different buddhist expressions of devotion?

At a monastery's grand reopening in Kathmandu, Justin Kelley watches three very different expressions of Buddhist devotion sit side by side — and finds, in his teacher Mingyur Rinpoche, a living example of what it looks like when they meet.

04/09/2026

September 4 How is it now and what did I learn today?

For more almost two months now we walk through this hall, back and forth to visit my husband. The LUMC in Leiden is a very good hospital, but the interior design and facilities for family are absolutely depressing and poor. I guess they did not build it for people who have to visit their beloved one for such a long time.

Because a long time it is. We all notice tiredness now as the first shocks and moments of crisis subside. It is a periode of seeking a balance between serving the other and taking care of yourself. A well-known principle in yoga but also Buddhism. I mentioned before the idea of becoming a “nobody”: rendering service without attachments to the ego. When there is loss of identity, there is loss of ego. The feeling of nothingness or lack of worthiness however do not make it easier to take care of other people. And yet, this is about where the challenge is- the entrance of the spiritual path. And this might even be an interesting challenge. Ram Dass again:

“And then finally, when you merge into that place, when you surrender, when you finally see that your own trip isn’t that interesting, when you finish tripping, then you become service. You just are that for other people, just because of the nature of the way of things. You are service. You no longer do service. You are service.

And some of you have had the graceful experience of feeling that you are an instrument of dharma, that you die into service. That there’s no you doing anything. It’s just service is happening.

I feel that we’re all, like, experimenting with this process. I think that if you aren’t experiencing from the way in which you do service, whether it’s professional or personal to another human being or volunteer or paid or family or to yourself, if you’re not doing service in such a way that at the end of the service you feel freer, higher, clearer, lighter, and more energized, you got work to do.

It’s an interesting challenge. We all have work to do. Because if you think you’re somebody doing something, it’s going to burn out. Simple as that.”

From somebody to nobody.

03/09/2026

I already wrote something about these new insights on my Instagram account of The Teaching Buddha . Now I share with you the blog of my beloved Dr. Arielle Schwartz. In the comments I will post her short video on this. Thank you, Arielle, for your contribution to this discourse! The neuroscience, academic discussions and somatic practices are so important because there is a belief (science:) that enduring chronic stress in many ways works the same as an experienced trauma. And don’t we know that só many people on this planet suffer from trauma and/or chronic stress? Yes. ❤️‍🩹

https://drarielleschwartz.com/if-the-body-doesnt-keep-the-score-what-does/?fbclid=IwRlRTSAUGDx5wZG9mBWZkaWQWUNvl7rGg55w3lez9jS_HHM-_TQOOq2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR4YwNocsSqftLZdEOiHQNSaO00vhlZFsOFUNUoyHAwidTy_KzFlhn2LT2EOpA_aem_iVJtrIvEEg2pSl-4XC9fog

Dr. Arielle Schwartz responds to the recent article that challenges whether the body keeps the score.

28/08/2026

27/08/2026

August 27 ~ How is it now and What did I learn today?
Becoming Nobody.

Sometimes the loss kicks in. Just as the second series of chemo’s kick in the body of my husband, after a few days, there are the consequential side-effects. I also feel different kinds of loss and it never is just physical or mental.

One kind of loss definitely is the loss of identities, as we perform different roles in our lives. As I had quite some (and very different) roles, I really have to get used to becoming a “nobody”. As if time is standing still and my mind and body only serve myself and my inner circle to survive. Am I still serving the world around me?

There is the loss of being a teacher in social studies and law. The new schoolyear starts next Monday and of course this causes a lot of thoughts, emotions and even requires some actions, because I had to end the last schoolyear abruptly. After starting a new year for 22 years, it feels sort of empty to not join my colleagues on this very first day of a new beginning.

Then there is a loss of being a yogateacher and trainer in Mindfulness and Buddhism. I think I have given so much of myself in these lessons and invested so much time, energy and money into these spiritual paths, that the feeling of loss is finally weighing down on me, after staying at bedsides of beloveds for more than 2,5 months. So there is emptiness and heaviness.

A very special kind of loss is a totally new identification I developed last year, namely with being a tour guide, a leader of spiritual retreats. I think I have never been happier than during my teachers-trip to Nepal, where I could combine my teaching skills, my experience as a yoga and meditation teacher and my passion for travelling. Now parts of Nepal are in ruins and my attachment to this new role and thus identification seems to crumble with it.

Diving into the teachings of Ram Dass (and with the help of the wonderful online Inner Academy) I am studying the concept of “becoming nobody”. This concept is so interesting. I will elaborate upon this more spiritual theme more!

Ram Dass: “Discovering one’s personal purpose is essential to becoming nobody and aligning oneself with reality.” 🙄