Waking Up to Everyday Life
On Saturday, January 23rd, 2016 I presented a podcast for the World Wide Insight: Healing & Insight channel (which is now Sangha.Live). The podcast consists of a 30-minute meditation followed by a 30-minute talk then concludes with 30-minutes of questions and answers. My talk and the video are a little bit jittery to start with but it does all settle down. […]
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Buddhist Health and Wellness dharma teachings launching January 2016 This new online initiative will be exploring the sharp edges of suffering through the lens of the buddhist teachings. Including addiction in it’s broadest sense, depression, physical and mental pain, and stress. https://youtu.be/hdVd7T6lRTY I will be teaching on January 23, 2016 at 11:00am PACIFIC / 7pm UK Online : Healing & Insight […]
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‘Wholehearted Recovery’ is a work in progress. The booklet is intended primarily as a hand-out at ‘Hungry Ghost’ recovery retreats and secondly as an informal Handbook for the Fifth Precept Sangha (see www.5th-Precept.org). The latest version can be downloaded from: www.5th-precept.org/html/downloads.html Should you have any comments or suggestions, please send them to vince.cullen@tara-detox.org
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Although I have used the word ‘recovery’ throughout this website [and the Hungry Ghost booklet], I am increasingly uncomfortable with this term. The Buddhist universal characteristic of impermanence implies that there is nothing to recover; we are a work-in-progress; we cannot go backwards! It may be better to describe this process as ‘Life after Addictions’, or simply as ‘Awakening’ or […]
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Every attendee at Hungry Ghost retreat is invited to partake of a personal 1-to-1 mentoring interview (usually between 20-30 minutes). Further interview sessions are available by pre-arrangement. These sessions may be in person face-to-face or via Skype and last 1-hour. There is no cost for these sessions but you are invited to offer Dana as you see fit. Click here […]
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Having left full-time employment and moved to live in Ireland, I am now open to invitations to teach Hungry Ghost retreats in 2021 and 2022. I would like to integrate any new teaching commitments into a mindful travel itinerary with my currently planned teaching and study commitments. With this in mind, I am particularly interested in – but not limited […]
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What’s the difference between the Fifth Precept fellowship and Hungry Ghost retreats? Fifth Precept Sangha (Fellowship) : is a Peer Led, mutual-help organisation that uses Buddhist mindfulness teachings and practices to help people make a wholehearted recovery from the suffering caused by addictive behaviours. This approach encourages individual commitment to total-abstinence and includes peer led ‘Sit-and-Share’ recovery meetings –www.5th-precept.org Hungry Ghost Recovery Retreats […]
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“Seeing nothing in the end
but competition,
I felt discontent.
And then I saw
an arrow here,
so very hard to see,
embedded in the heart.”
~ Buddha
“Seeing nothing in the end
but competition,
I felt discontent.
And then I saw
an arrow here,
so very hard to see,
embedded in the heart.”
~ Buddha
Workshop: A Forgiveness Empowerment The following is a transcript of my contribution to this conversation with William Frey, Barbara Soltero, and Paula Watson at the 4th International Mindfulness Conference, on Thursday, July 8th, 2021 My name is Vince Cullen. I am an Irishman and ex-alcoholic. I am not particularly attached to either of these two identities but in my lifetime […]
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Today it’s a special episode as we host a great debate between 2 wise old Buddhists – on the merits of AA and alternative recovery programmes, what works? What doesn’t? Whats hokum? Where does Buddhism and the 12 steps fit in with all this?
~ Dave G. (Here’s Tom With The Weather podcast)
“Let’s teach our children how the brain works. Our thoughts might be real but they are not necessarily true.”
~ Vince Cullen
“But let me be honest here. The first two years of sobriety were miserable.” ~ Vince Cullen
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Avoidable-suffering is universal and takes many forms, however, this series of talks may be of particular interest to anyone currently struggling with the three fires of Cravings, Aversions and Confusions. ~ Vince Cullen
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“It is interesting to note that the current Abbot, Phra Atikarn Vichien Gitiwanno, says the herbal medicines are only 20% of the treatment offered. I don’t entirely agree with this percentage, in line with the founding Abbot Luang Por Chamroon Parnchand whom I met in 1998, and I would put the contribution of the herbal treatment at just 5% of the efficacy of the entire programme.” – Vince Cullen
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“Buddhism asserts that everyone suffers from mental illness; that is simply being human; that is the baseline. Thank you, Andy Palmer, for a very enjoyable and wide-ranging exploration of how this reality played and continues to play itself out in my life!” ~ Vince Cullen
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“Life is stressful, uncomfortable, uncertain, insecure, disappointing, painful.
Life is complicated, boring, impersonal, difficult, distressing, challenging, unfair.
Life isn’t just stressful; in many ways it is traumatic…
…but, on the other hand, life can be a wonderful adventure.” ~ Vince Cullen
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