Buddhism can be understood as a series of prescriptions for the human condition at both a personal and community level. The spiritual path is therefore a journey that is both individual and collective by nature. Even at the individual level of the journey, spiritual practice is not confined to simple introspection - although periods of reflection and solitude are an essential element of the path - but includes our interactions with the external world as well. The collective aspect of the spiritual path is largely about how Buddhism is understood by the different communities who have adopted and tried to practice the Buddhist teachings. This issue of Ordinary Mind touches upon all of these aspects of the Buddhist path. At a personal level, there is an examination of the spiritual path from the perspective of the individual journey, while at the collective level articles range from the beginnings of Buddhism in the west at the London Buddhist Society, a discussion about introducing Buddhist ideas into western spiritual and intellectual landscape and an exposition on certain Buddhist ideas that survived into the 17th century in Indian spiritual life. There is also a look at how Buddhist ideas can compliment and inform important social issues in our contemporary world.

The writers and teachers featured in this issue include Venerable Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche, who is well-known to regular readers of Ordinary Mind and the founder of E-Vam Institute in Melbourne and New York. David Templeman is a highly respected translator and historian, who has published a number of translations and articles on Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. Paul Seto is the registrar of the Buddhist Society UK, the oldest Buddhist Institute in England and one of the oldest in Europe. Kate Noble is a Buddhist who tutors in environmental philosophy and works at the Australian Conservation Foundation. Our feature interview is with Sam Bercholz who talks about his life as a close student of both Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Thinley Norbu Rinpoche and about the founding of Shambala Publications. Also included is a moving biography of Ani Tenzin Wangmo, an Australian Buddhist nun from the Tibetan tradition, who died recently of cancer. This biography was written by Anui Dechen Drolma, another young Australian woman who recently took novice vows in that same tradition.

Our regular features include Focus on a Centre, Straight Talk and a number of book reviews. We are also pleased to introduce some new, regular sections to the magazine. These will include a celebrity interview with a high profile, Australian, Buddhist practitioner; health tips for practitioners and recipes for healthy, but enjoyable eating. We hope tat you enjoy reading these broad-ranging discussions on the practices and assimilations of Buddhism, and the ways in which it has and can inform our lives.