Martine Batchelor

“That is Martine just before I shaved her head,” the monk exclaimed. He pointed to the inside of a souvenir book featuring photographs of past residents at Songgwangsa, a Zen temple in southwestern Korea. Everyone else recognized the woman in the photograph. I did not. The woman, of course, was me. I had never seen the picture. It captured a young lady with glasses and long dark hair, about 22 years old. I took a photo of the photo for my record.

This excerpt has been adapted from Tricycle’s online course, “The Dharma of Relationships: The Paramis in Action” with Martine Batchelor and Laura Bridgman. Learn more about the course and enroll at learn.tricycle.org. Martine Batchelor: When we look at relationships, one question that often comes up is: What about practice and sexuality? Often there is talk about desire as something negative. But you also have the desire, of course, for awakening.

This excerpt has been adapted from Tricycle’s online course “The Dharma of Relationships: The Paramis in Action” with Martine Batchelor and Laura Bridgman. Learn more about the course and enroll at learn.tricycle.org. Martine Batchelor: Something that is important to explore, look at, and be careful with in terms of the dharma of relationships is ending a relationship intentionally. In the dharma, we talk a lot about patience, generosity, compassion, and forgiveness.