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
The I Ching is one of the oldest books in the world. It is a book of divination that has been used throughout Chinese history. It is important to Taoists and Confucians especially. The book embodies a traditional wisdom and has an uncanny ability to
Read more…Lao Tzu
Lao Tzu is regarded as the founder of Taoism. According to tradition, he was an older contemporary of Confucius, and, perhaps, also of Buddha. Lao Tzu and Confucius are considered the two greatest sages of China and tit is recorded that they m
I've been doing a bit of research on the usage of the La Ville au Roi (Eleusis) site. I find that there are equal numbers of men and women but, excluding the three of us who are resident at La Ville au Roi, there is a surprisingly large preponderance
Read more…Silver
There is a north of England saying, "cast not a clout til the may is out." It means, don't cast off your winter coat until the may tree is in flower, and at the moment our may trees show not the slightest sign of life, which is no wonder. The
It's that extra day today, 29th February. I thought it fun that the Eleusis site happened to have 108 members today and Leap year has 366 days and 3x6x6=108, so there is a bit of numerology for you!
It's Monday which, at the moment, is the day that t
Read more…Little by Little
My motto at the moment is "Little by little." It is a life of pottering. A bit of this and a bit of that. I can do many things but only for short periods. Walking is good. It keeps the circulation going, especially in the legs. I wal
When Siddhartha Gotama became enlightened and so became Shakyamuni Buddha what he realised was dependent origination, pratitya samutpada. Consequently, the precise meaning of dependent origination has been a subject of debate throughout Buddhist hist
Read more…QUESTION: I am confused about the location of the Pure Land in time. In some things I read, it seems to be located in the future, after death, when one "goes to" the Pure Land to become fully enlightened (and then returns to serve all sentient being
Read more…We have had a couple of wet days. A good time for writing and we have all three been doing it, some of which has appeared on the site. I particularly enjoyed delving into the story of the Pureland sage, Ippen, once again - so many important spiritual
Read more…This is a group for sharing information, stories and lore about plants, including their medicinal, magical, sacred, and mythical properties, histories, poetry and charm.
Read more…QUESTION: I watched a TV programme recently that featured a rape. it really affected me and one thing that struck me was how would it be for someone who has faith in Pureland to contemplate that the perpetrator of violence against them could also ent
Read more…Today has felt like the first spring day. We have had periods of warm sunshine and it has been he first day of the year in which we have had our coffee break outdoors and have not lit a fire in our bedroom. The warmer weather has brought new activity
Read more…Today Damian, Susthama, Selena and Dorian left after breakfast to make the journey back to their home in Watford in England. They are in the process of buying a new apartment and need to be in UK in order to handle the legal and financial tasks. Eleu
Read more…In today’s teaching I would like to look critically at some of the principles, often taken as self-evident, that underpin much of our thinking about ethics.
There is, for instance, the so called golden rule, treat others as you would yourself be trea
Read more…Today we woke up to snow, just a sprinkling. It looked very pretty. The day continued mostly rather cold. Later we had rain and then again in the evening more snow.
Between these various showers I managed to get out and get a bit of exercise for thre
