Suryacitta (The Happy Buddha)

Suryacitta is a meditation teacher and ordained Buddhist who describes himself, with characteristic humour, as not enlightened yet. For more than twenty-five years he searched for awakening, self-realisation and Buddhahood, whatever name the mind gave to freedom. The first fifteen of those years were spent within Buddhism, and the following decade in the world of non-duality, through books, videos, teachings and practices.

He writes that what he missed for years was that he was trying to understand it through thought. Even when teachers said it was not an experience, he turned that into one more idea to hold. The shift came through the direct, simple communication of the non-duality speaker Emerson. The search did not end in fireworks. It faded gradually, and what remained was ordinary, nothing mystical, and so obvious it had been overlooked.

His teaching invites people to stop looking for freedom in better descriptions and to notice what is here before a thought appears, in the gaps between words. Each page ends with a simple pointer: don't think about it, and go to the experience the question takes you to. He offers private one-to-one sessions over Zoom. They are confidential, and they are not spiritual Q&As or discussions of philosophy. They are a chance to look at the ordinary presence that has never been absent.

Suryacitta is a five-time author. He lives in rural Leicestershire with his wife Gaynor and their blind Border Collie, Bankei. Bankei lost his sight suddenly in 2021 and stayed joyful, with no story about it and so no mental suffering. Watching him led Suryacitta to create Walking Into Wisdom – Reflections of a Dog Walker, a series of bite-size video teachings recorded on walks with Bankei.