The term apodicity means certainty arrived at through evidence. In psychological usage it refers to experiential knowledge. Knowledge is apodictic for me when, because of my own experience, I cannot congruently doubt it. Clearly one can go through th
Read more…Visiting
Yesterday we had a very pleasant morning at the Oasis community. It is a great thing to have another small Buddhist group so close. I led a morning service and gave a Dharma talk explaining our Ju-nen practice. Then we had coffee and treats o
Some photos I took this lunchtime walking around here. The cherry blossom reminds me of times in Japan. The bluebells of woods in the south of England. It is a lovely time of year to be here.
The conclusion I have reached and that serves me best is that the basic default setting of life is faith. The snail proceeding across the garden lives in faith that she will reach the cabbage. It may be that all manner of misfortune may prevent her d
Read more…Spring Clean
Slowly, Eleusis is getting ready to receive more visitors as the weather improves. Today, while I have been busy writing, the others have all been busy reorganising the house. Elja and i have moved fully back into my rooms in the old ecur
The first two hexagrams of the I Ching are also a pair of opposites, just like the last two. To change one of these into the other you would have to change every line. However, unlike the final two, there is no natural tendency for them to change int
Read more…Through Many Offices
I don't think any of us like dealing with bureaucracy, but it does make for funny stories sometimes.
This morning we went to see the French equivalent of social security to see if it was possible to reclaim some of my medical exp
Read more…"It's nurse day," said Elja when we came to breakfast this morning.
"No it isn't," I said.
"Oh, you're right - it's only once a fortnight now!"
"That's right."
I now only have to have my blood tests once a fortnight - progress.
I got on with some mor
This morning we had another joint service with Oasis, but his time they came here. A very nice event. In the talk I talked about how we are all mirror's of the Light of All the Buddhas.
When we came out of the ceremony hall there was warm sunshine. W
Read more…If you are reading this it might be that you live in a country torn by war and devastation and the Spirit may then be your lifeline, but, given that you do have time to read, it is more likely that you live in a country that is at peace, that is not
Read more…Love is the life you already have. What does this mean? If you are reading this then you are human. You already have the precious gift of having been born as a human being. You might have been many other kinds of being. You might not have been animat
Read more…Winter came back briefly today. We managed to get out a bit between rain showers. Adam collected wood. I cut ivy rescuing oak trees. I am gradually working my way around our woods. One ivy I cut was a foot in diameter. I'm sure that the great oak tre
Read more…April Fool's Day and a Friday - how inauspicious ! Nonetheless, it was a good day for us.
It was Modgala's first full day here. Very nice to have her with us. In the morning we all went to Oasis. This was our second time to hold our service/puja at O
Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching: Chapter 3
老 子: 「道 德 經」 : 第 三 章
Text:
不 尚 賢 ，
使 民 不 爭 ﹔
不 貴 難 得 之 貨 ，
使 民 不 為 盜 ﹔
不 見 可 欲 ，
使 民 心 不 亂 。
Not esteeming the clever and good, keeps the people from contention.
Not valuing what is hard to obtain keeps the people from t
Work Camp
Under the grey sky we have been working. Adam has continued with laying concrete slabs to create an area that will eventually be a base for another wooden shed. He got quite a bit done today and we have now run out of concrete slabs so will
Dharma
So far we have just talked about rupa and lakshana. the term dharma refers to things as they actually are - from their own side, as it were. So one’s father, from his own side, is not at all the person that the child is likely to see him as. T
Well, the big news today is that Elja's laptop has gone completely dead. We took it into town to the repair shop and had complicated discussions in a mix of Dutch, English and French and the upshot is that they will have a look at it and we will know
Read more…Buddhist Psychology
Buddhist psychology is the analysis of delusion. Where Buddhist practice is either an effort to reach enlightenment, a celebration of enlightenment or an expression of the enlightened state, Buddhist psychology is an examination o
Some snapshots of my day…
Waking up with a head full of Genjo Koan and Dogen. Getting up and typing on my laptop, still in pyjamas and dressing gown.
Eating breakfast around the kitchen table. Toasting Adam’s delicious home made bread, to eat with
Many Modes of Spirituality
The contemporary world is such a confusing place. We have available to us a greater plethora of ideas than perhaps any previous age. The spiritual treasures of the whole world and much of history are spilled out at our feet
