Feb32026
Team Blogsbeing-the-light-of-ourself

I’ve heard the Buddha’s last words translated as ‘Be the light of yourself.’ I like this translation because it turns my attention to what is already waiting within. There’s nothing to add on, to improve or fix. I can let go of the ‘Great Project of Fay’ which I’m convinced needs constant management and advancement and realise that the light within is not something to generate. It is the clear, knowing, caring presence that is already here if I know how to pause.

The symbol of the mandala can be a mirror for this truth.

In a mandala, the centre is awake and luminous, the seat of wisdom and compassion. Around it arise countless forms – energies, emotions, fears, longings, and stories – each with its own characteristics. Nothing is outside the field of the mandala, so nothing is rejected. Even whatfeels heavy or chaotic is held within what can be understood as a sacred order.

The practice is a return to the light of yourself, at the centre of the mandala.

When we repeatedly return to the light of ourself, we allow the restless mind to settle into its own nature. The presence of the body becomes the ground from which we begin. From here, the light can radiate, not with effort but naturally, like warmth glowing from a light. Just because that’s what it does.

In the light of compassion and wisdom, emotions become energy in motion. Old wounds start to feel like tenderness. The inner monsters, once feared, are recognised as protectors that lost their way. There’s an appreciation for the richness of it all.

To rest at the centre of the mandala is to discover refuge that cannot be taken away. This refuge does not depend on calm circumstances or perfect conditions. From here, compassioncan begin to arise spontaneously and without effort, first toward oneself, then toward others.

When we walk in the world from this place, our presence can feel like a very quiet and humble superpower Perhaps we are able to listen more deeply. Our heart feels more awake and we may act with greater care. The light we have learned to trust in ourselves becomes a gentle offering to those we meet.

This is an invitation to enter the mandala of your own experience and to remember, again and again, the great possibility of you.

 

Find out more about this course:  https://www.mindfulnessassociation.net/course/the-mandala-of-compassion/

Try this Mini practice from the course

Author: Fay Adams

Fay Adams trained to teach mindfulness under the guidance of well-known teacher Rob Nairn, whilst living on the Holy Isle retreat island off the west coast of Scotland. She now teaches courses and retreats in mindfulness, compassion, insight, and mindfulness and poetry with the Mindfulness Association and she is a tutor on the University of Aberdeen’s Studies in Mindfulness MSc. Fay has been a dedicated meditation practitioner since 2006. She is a mindfulness supervisor and a teacher trainer. She is also a coach who brings unconditional mindful acceptance to her clients and helps people to nurture a mindfulness, compassion or self-development practice that is meaningful, sustainable, enjoyable and transformative. Fay was originally drawn to mindfulness in her twenties because of her chronic pain. Throughout her 6 years of living on Holy Isle in a small meditation hut, she immersed herself in discovering what the pain was all about. In the process she began to find a new way to inhabit mind, body and community. Ultimately, mindfulness has, as well as freeing her from the pain, become a deeply rich basis for living life fully. Fay now lives in Herefordshire with her partner and son.