Today Josephine arrived to stay with us a couple of days so temporarily we are a community of four. it is said that you need four to be a sangha, so that's good.
This morning we had a thick mist so we ate breakfast indoors. The sun did not get out un
Aphrodite's Domain
I spent some time today working in the Aphrodite domain. This is one of my favourite occupations these days. The beauty of the space and its seclusion, the sense of sacredness around the special may tree, the great old oaks on the p
I wanted to explain more about the I Ching, So I thought the best way was to let the oracle speak for itself.
To use the oracle, one casts a hexagram. There is a complex method using yarrow stalks and a simpler method using coins. I always use the
Woodland Management on Sunny Days
The weather has been kind to us. The mornings are frosty and bright gradually giving way to sunshine. We work in the woods or inside, but the lure of the good weather keeps one outside much of he time.I have taken to
Read more…In Japan there is currently a good deal of debate about pornography. Manga are comics. Back in the 1980s a woman called Keiko Takemiya brought out a comic series called The Poem of Wind and Trees that includes sex of all kinds. There is an article on
Read more…I have spent much of today reading the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare which has been a pleasant thing to do, especially this morning sitting in the sunshine. Later it got a bit cooler and by the end of the day I was sitting inside by the f
Read more…Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar has many memorable lines, but none more so than “Beware the Ides of March.” As it is, today, the 15th of March, I would like to highlight one of the most important themes of the play, which is the dilemma of Brutus.
An
In the morning service at Amida Shu temples and gatherings there is a passage that begins “Your radiant face, like a mountain peak catching the first burst of morning light, has awesome and unequalled majesty.” It is the first verse of a short text c
Read more…Jonah Outdoors
What a lovely day! It was our first day this year to eat breakfast outside. There had been a frost and there was still a chill in the air, but the sun was up and warming my back. As I ate my breakfast I saw rabbits venturing out of the
The Book of Jonah (referred to in the Daily of yesterday) is one of the shortest in the Old Testament - just four chapters. It tells the tale of a man who is given a job to do by his god but does not want to do it. It is therefore about avoiding one’
Read more…I spent much of today on my own, some of it writing and some of it doing light work in the Aphrodite field. I walked across there at the end of a grey morning. At this time of year the path is full of tiny violets - an Aphrodite flower. As I entered
Answers to appear in a few days time...
1. What flowers do we have on our shrine at the moment?
2. Which of the following prickly plants grow at La Ville au Roi (Eleusis):
(a) thistle, (b) blackthorn, (c) wild rose, (d) hawthorne, (e) cactus?
3. Whic
Read more…At breakfast we discussed the issues of teacher and disciple. Adam had memories of previous discussions here on similar topics from a couple of years ago. Elja was pleased to see that there have been some good responses to her article which also appe
Read more…QUESTION: Can we think of Amida as mother?
SHORT ANSWER: Yes
LONGER ANSWER: Buddhas can appear in whatever form is necessary to save sentient beings, so can certainly appear as mother. However, one has to be careful in designing one's own Buddha beca
Read more…道 可 道 ， 非 常 道 。
名 可 名 ， 非 常 名 。
The tao that you can tao is not the enduring Tao
Names that you can name are not the enduring Name
無 名 天 地 之 始
有 名 萬 物 之 母 。
Without name is the origin of Heaven and Earth
Having names is the mother of the myriad thi
Dentistry - green not pink
This morning we went to the medical centre. Firstly, I saw the dentist. A filling that I had had put in in England in December came out just before my admission to hospital and there had been no opportunity in the midst of
This morning we had a discussion about the passage in the Bible in Genesis chapter 11 which is the story of the Tower of Babel. The story is simple enough. The people of the Earth gather and meet in harmony and set to work to build a city and a tower
Read more…Transmission
Over breakfast we talked about the issue of spiritual transmission. In Buddhism this has been a hazardous affair. There are many instances of people being selected as “Dharma Heirs” who have then gone off the rails, causing all manner of
Some Thoughts Stimulated by reading Jacob L Moreno
Stage
The stage is open on every side. Above it is the spirit of creativity that may descend upon us at any time. Below is the bottomless pit of shadows from which we may winch up, as from a well, th
New Persona for Lai
Annette called to take me to the garage in the village to collect the car. The car has the registration LAI092 - very old - so we call her “Lai”. The garage has repaired her. However, the new parts are a different colour from the
