The Author
Mahabodhi is a member of the Western Buddhist Order, ordained in 1997 and practicing buddhism under the auspices of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order since 1988.  He graduated in physics from Manchester University in 1977, and has worked as a youth worker, mural artist, as well as a meditation teacher.

History of project's development

The Project
This project began in December 2003 as a book about buddhist ritual, yet always in the back of my mind were certain unanswered questions concerning how certain teachings in buddhism fit together, and when I looked into some of them - such as mindfulness - it wasn't always clear what those were or how they fit into a scheme of practice.  So I have been driven to try to make better sense of them.  An example was one of the four foundations of mindfulness (satipatthanas), citta.  This has often been rendered heart-mind, but some buddhist commentators render it thought.  And there also are differing views on what is meant by the fourth satipatthana, dhammas or mental objects.  For confusions to persist over such an important teaching - the four foundations of mindfulness is the central buddhist teaching on mindfulness - I thought needed rectifying, and so I have been putting energy into trying to make sense of this teaching, with some successes.  I have published these as articles in the Western Buddhist Order journal, Shabda.  In 2008 I published an article on citta, which followed one on feeling (vedana) in 2006.  I am currently turning my attention to clarifying 'mental objects'.