Painting the sky
This essay explores the Buddha’s teaching on the constructed (saṅkhata) and the unconstructed (asaṅkhata). The “constructed” represents our normal everyday world of coming-&-going, of you and I, of this and that. The “unconstructed” represents that which does not come or go; is neither you nor I; is not this and not that. The essay was the basis for the Dharma Salon group at the 2010 Australian Dharma Gathering at Yarrahapinni Ecology Centre on the NSW north coast.

Essays on mindfulness
This is a series of five essays on mindfulness written for the Dharma Salon group at the 2008 Australian Dharma Gathering. The essays are an exploration of the meaning of the term “mindfulness” (in Pali, sati), which is at the centre of the Buddha’s approach to the path of liberation.

Dependent arising
This is a series of six essays examining different aspects of dependent arising (paṭiccasamuppadā), the Buddha’s central teaching, written for a sutta study course conducted for the Buddhist Library in Sydney during April and May 2002.

From Majjhima Nikāya
These essays that look at some discourses from Majjhima Nikāya, the collection of middle length suttas. In particular, we read Mūlapariyāya Sutta (The root of all things M1), Madhupiṇḍika Sutta (The honeyball M18), and two discourses on emptiness, Mahāsuññatā Sutta (Greater discourse on emptiness M122) and its companion, Cūḷasuññatā Sutta (Shorter discourse on emptiness M121). They were written for a sutta study course conducted for the Buddhist Library, Sydney, in 2004.

The wings to awakening
These essays were written for a course given at the Buddhist Library, Sydney, and Sakyamuni Buddhist Centre, Canberra, in 2005. They examine the Buddha’s teaching through the interpretative framework provided by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff), a contemporary Theravāda bhikkhu who is an important translator and interpreter of the Buddha. His books include The wings to awakening, which provides the basic text for our course, and Mind like fire unbound, a study of nibbāna through the Buddha’s use of the metaphor of fire. Both have been published by Dhamma Dana publications, and are available on the internet at Access to Insight, www.accesstoinsight.org.