What is Buddhist ‘training’? I have written on the dangers of misunderstanding this term before. Here I would like to try to say a little more, since this is an important issue for all of us and especially for those who have made a full time commitme
Read more…Today we were once again at Oasis as there was a celebration for Misha's birthday. We had a service with Quan Shi Yin chanting and reading of the litany and then we met for a vegetarian meal and conversation. Much of the conversation revolved around
Read more…QUESTION: Most weeks I visit a local temple in my town, where Theravada monks have a brief service before spending about 45 minutes meditating. This then makes me feel that maybe I should have made the effort to travel to the temple of my own form of
Read more…Nice to have a report from Mo about the event in Britany last weekend.
This morning I took Elja to Urciers, a village not too far away, to connect up with a car going to Netherlands. She has a variety of errands, mostly medical and family, to attend
Read more…I have not written a Daily for several days. This is principally because life here goes along in a fairly uniform way at the moment so that one feels that there is nothing to report.
Personally I feel myself to be in a kind of interim. I have more or
Read more…A very common idea about Buddhism is the notion that what is required is for one to come to see things as they truly are. We all know that different people see things differently. I have recently read a couple of novels by Iris Murdoch. One of the pa
Read more…SHUTTLEDORE
Well, I’ll be dying soon but you don’t need to cry,
I will soon be passing and we all know why,
We all know we all know we all have to die,
But that’s not a reason and that’s why we cry.
The body is a-failing and the ailing’s long,
The n
FRIEND AT THE WINDOW
So many leaves turning
from green to brown,
or still part and part -
walnut tree in autumn
caressing my bedroom window
how you have grown this year
through spring deluge and summer drought
now to emerge
through autumnal mist,
Read more…It is quite common in Buddhist circles these days to hear the following assertions:
1. everything affects everything else, at least minimally, in one way or another
therefore
2. everything is interdependent
and
3. interdependent co-arising is the fundamen
It now seems definitely to be autumn. Misty mornings. Cool weather that feels cold by comparison with what went before. Interesting how one forgets what winter felt like. There is little to write about in terms of activity here. All goes on as usual.
Read more…Commentary on Summary of Faith and Practice
Part 27 "Delineated by the Precepts" from the sentence "The Buddha Body is delineated by the precepts"
To delineate is to loosely define. It is to create a sketch or outline that indicates the shape or n
Read more…Finally the weather broke. Last night we had a big storm with torrents of rain. The outside world is suddenly refreshed. The earth had become hard and dry, the grass all yellow. The rain fell and was soaked in by he ground like a great dry sponge. Th
Read more…For some time now I have been predicting the rearmament of Europe. Now Mr Junker in his address is starting the ball rolling. Brexit facilitates this process. The UK has always been a brake upon it. The balance of forces since WWII has been a deal in
Read more…In my Principles Against Common Fallacies
7. Spiritual maturity requires a sense of separation.
These days there is a great emphasis in spiritual teachings upon interconnectedness. These ideas have some sense, but should not be taken too far. Separat
Read more…The moon rises further east each evening and gows in size. Three quarters now.
The days are hot and today the wind was particularly dry. Perhaps it is the sirocco. The winds from Africa rarely get this far north, but today the air had a quality altog
Read more…The half moon is orange in the clear evening sky in the south. The crickets are chirping and the summer heat persists.
Elja has a regular industry of jam and syrup making going on in the kitchen and fruits continue to ripen.
Inside we work on editing
Read more…We had our usual Friday visit to Oasis this morning and today for the first time did the ritual in French which was very nice. Annette has been doing some great translating work. She has done the whole of our service book and I am now editing it, eve
Read more…Commentary on Summary of Faith and Practice
TEXT: Faith & practice cannot be differentiated
COMMENTARY
Differentiating
"Cannot be differentiated" means that one cannot tell one from the other. You can see a person's real faith in their practice. Prac
Read more…Isn't it wonderful news that the USA has agreed to spend money on clearing up all the anti-personnel munitions that they dropped on Laos during the Vietnam War ! They are actually going to spend something like a tenth of a percent of the cost of the
Read more…