#028: Martin Aylward | Reality is Playful

Scott and Dharma teacher Martin Aylward ‘chew the dharma fat’ over topics including contemplative practices, the inherent ‘juiciness’ of life, and the ultimate inevitability of liberation.

 

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Martin has been practicing meditation for 30 years. Over that time he studied in monasteries and Ashrams in India and Thailand. He explored many different teachings, from Indian asceticism to Buddhist tantric traditions.

Martin began teaching the Dharma in 1999 after being encouraged by his teacher. In 2005, he co-founded Moulin de Chaves, a residential retreat centre in Southwest France. He has held pilgrimages, led wilderness retreats in France and the USA, and has taken small groups of Dharma students to practice in India and Bhutan. 

He now runs a number of online courses which are designed to help people integrate these transformational meditative practices into their daily lives.

You can find out more about Martin’s teaching schedule here.

His Mindfulness Teacher Training here.

His new book Awake Where You Are: The Art Of Embodied Awareness here.

 

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Marting Aylward is such a rich, joyful voice. He brings the teachings of Buddhism and mindfulness and gently lands them in the centre of our lives. For me he is one of the leading voices of contemplative practice teaching at the moment. This conversation will leave you inspired... 

Scott Johnson - July 2021

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Hokusai Says

by Roger Keyes

Hokusai says look carefully.
He says pay attention, notice.
He says keep looking, stay curious.
Hokusai says says there is no end to seeing

He says look forward to getting old.
He says keep changing,
you just get more who you really are.
He says get stuck, accept it, repeat
yourself as long as it is interesting.

He says keep doing what you love.

He says keep praying.

He says every one of us is a child,
every one of us is ancient
every one of us has a body.
He says every one of us is frightened.
He says every one of us has to find
a way to live with fear.

He says everything is alive --
shells, buildings, people, fish,
mountains, trees, wood is alive.
Water is alive.

Everything has its own life.

Everything lives inside us.
He says live with the world inside you.

He says it doesn't matter if you draw,
or write books. It doesn't matter
if you saw wood, or catch fish.
It doesn't matter if you sit at home
and stare at the ants on your veranda
or the shadows of the trees
and grasses in your garden.
It matters that you care.

It matters that you feel.

It matters that you notice.

It matters that life lives through you.

Contentment is life living through you.
Joy is life living through you.
Satisfaction and strength
is life living through you.

He says don't be afraid.
Don't be afraid.

Love, feel, let life take you by the hand.

Let life live through you.