I have been back from India and the Ipswich Pilgrimage for a week now and returning to ‘normal’ life is occurring slowly. As with any spiritual journey, such as a retreat or in this case, a Pilgrimage, the world never seems quite what it was when you left. The difference… Read More »Shedding our iron-rings
Along with 20 other members of the Ipswich Sangha, I am in India. We have been in India for just over two weeks. During that time we have seen many things that have shocked us, that have made us laugh and also cry. We have meditated, chanted and practised in… Read More »Chair’s Homily February 2023
The only Present you need – Sati – and you already have it! In the early years of Triratna Sangharakshita used to talk quite a lot about everyday mindfulness. This was in part a response to the meditation practices he found in the UK at the time, 50 years ago, that led… Read More »Chairs Homily January 2023
Chairs message– December 2022 Once again we enter the season that on the surface seems to be characterised by Greed. A time when we ask for and receive presents and gifts. Over the last hundred years or so, this season of giving seems to have been taken over by commercial… Read More »The Gift of the Dharma
These current few weeks in the past and in the future, for me, seem to be coloured by celebrations. We don’t often look on the bright side of things. Researchers tell us, we as humans have a negative bias, always looking for what has gone wrong. An ancient survival instinct… Read More »A life of Celebrations
Chair’s Homily October 2022 A few days ago I was given a great opportunity. An opportunity for a bit of quiet time, alone, a sort of mini-solitary I suppose you could term it. So what was the occasion you ask? And how did it come about? But first I must… Read More »Patience – The Joy of Waiting!
Last month I was at a concert at Snape maltings. Not a classical concert this time but an American Blues group, complete with horn section. They played some living music which you could describe as protest songs. Mainly drawing on the current social problems that the USA faces. The liveliness… Read More »Enjoy the flow of Pratītya-samutpāda
Over the last few days at various gatherings, I have been talking to or thinking about, several young people just into their early 30’s. Two had a strong interest in Buddhism, one in Hinduism and one had no apparent aspirations. One young person in my thoughts today, died very recently.… Read More »Transform the Demon of Greed
Chairs homily July 2022 A little while ago, there was laid out before me, a vast array of food, a veritable buffet for the gods. You may be able to imagine that the chance and pressure to be greedy was strong. I was on holiday, one of the all-inclusive kinds,… Read More »G H & D
Chairman’s Message June 2022 A few months ago now I went on a retreat with the Theme of the Tibetan text; the Bardo Thodol, commonly known as the ‘Tibetan Book of the Dead’. The text is a Terma, which means it was written by Padmasambhava in the 8th century and… Read More »Important decisions
