THE QUESTION OF EXCLUSIVISM: Amidism is not monotheism

For some people, I notice, Amidism is close to being a monotheism. We come from a culture where monotheism has dominated for a couple of thousand years and wars have been fought over which is the correct monotheistic deity and even over fine points

COUNSELLING AND BUDDHISM

This is a piece I wrote in August 2012

Somebody showed me a piece of writing about how counselling and Buddhism relate to one another that suggests that counselling is only really appropriate for people who have not yet discovered the true Dharma pat

BUDDHISM AND ANIMALS

Based on a talk given at Quaker Concern for Animals, May 2005

by David Brazier (aka Dharmavidya)

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THREE LEVELS

Buddhism offers a religious vision at three levels. At the ultim

CREATING A NEW FOREST IN SCOTLAND

Creating a new forest in Scotland

https://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/rare-forest-being-planted-near-loch-ness-will-be-largest-in-scotland-1-5060396

Forest is a key issue in sustaining life on Earth.  At this time, forests are being destroyed i

ECO DHARMA EVENT

Reprinted from the Network of Buddhist Organisations circulation:

POST-MAPPO REDISCOVER INNOCENCE

In my Dharma talk today I suggested that we are now in the fourth age of the Dharma. In the first age of the Dharma Buddha Shakyamuni was still in this world or had recently passed away and people became enlightened by direct encounter with him or wi

PARAVRITTI (Part 8 final): Faith and Courage

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In both turning away and turning toward the element of faith is of crucial importance. Without it the turning does not complete because, panicking inside, we cling on to our old ways. In the case of turning away, one might arrive at th

PARAVRITTI (Part 7): Negation

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Paravritti, turning back, is negation.  To turn back or let go is to negate something that was previously considered important.

Western people are often puzzled by the way that Buddhist teachings are often framed in the negative form. W

CONCEIT

“I’m better than these people” “I’ll never be as good as these people” “They’re all cleverer than me” “I must let everybody know that I know important people” “I’ll include in my little speech all the important books and concepts I have read so that

AMIDA SAMADHI

INSIGHT AND CALM

In the approach known now as Insight Meditation, there are two phases to practise. The first is to calm the mind and the second is “looking into the true nature of things as they are”. In other words, calm is a basis for the developm

PERFORMING THE RITUAL OF LIFE

This article is published by Tricycle magazine at

https://tricycle.org/magazine/dogen-and-enlightenment/

PARAVRITTI (Part 6): The bodhisattva

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The bodhisattva, having turned back, lives life as a gift, not a trade, in mercy rather than justice.

THE PATH

We have seen how turning back from involvement in the conditioned life of samsara leads one to go forth on one’s spiritual que

SINCERITY IN PRACTICE

Shan Tao talks about The Three Minds - Sincere mind, Deep Mind and Mind that Transfers Merit for Ojo. Ojo means birth in the presence of Buddha. Because of the Christian association, one might flinch from the idea of being a “born again Buddhist”, b

EXTENDING THE GARDEN PATH

Today I did some weeding and also extended the garden path as far as the buried wood mound.

PARAVRITTI (Part 5): SHAKYAMUNI

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In the life of Sidhartha Gotama who became Shakyamuni Buddha, there are two great turning points. Both are instances of paravritti, of turning back.

THE FIRST GOING FORTH

The first of these is the occasion of his leaving home. We are to

PARAVRITTI (Part 4): THE BUDDHA WHO GLANCES BACK

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There is a famous carving in wood of Amida Tathagata glancing back. This glancing back statue is very famous. The expression on the face of the Buddha as he looks back is both tender and dignified, poised yet concerned.

In the year 1082,

MAKING A BURIED WOOD GARDEN BED

In Germany this is called hugelkultur. You can look it up on the web. It is a way of making a garden bed that is relatively drought resistant, by burying wood. The wood rots and becomes a sponge which retains water. It can be done on a big scale if y

TAO TE CHING 42: Yi Wei

TEXT

道生一，一生二，二生三，三生万物。

万物负阴而抱阳，
冲气以為和。

人之所恶，唯孤、寡、不谷，
而王公以為称。

故物或损之而益，
或益之而损。

人之所教，
我亦教之。

强梁者不得其死，
吾将以為教父。

TRANSLATION

Tao give rise to one, one gives rise to two, two gives rise to three, three gives rise to a multitude.

Everyone puts yin behind and embr

PARAVRITTI (Part 3): REVULSION

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The term paravritti often gets translated by something that sounds rather grand such as a turning around in the seat of consciousness. This kind of translation is not wrong and I have used it myself, but I have to admit that it probably g