Chair’s Homily for July I am at Adhisthana this week on the European Chairs Assembly, where ideas and proposals abound in many different languages. Sitting chatting, whilst eating breakfast, I notice on my left Viryakirti from Mexico and Silamani from Valencia, Spain. On my right is Aryabandhu from Berlin and… Read More »The Art of Communication
Two apparently unrelated events in the past few weeks have together coalesced to form this article. The first was a conversation with a member of the Ipswich Sangha about a mutual friend. The second was from some research I was exploring into various schools of Zen Buddhism. This month’s article… Read More »Trim your sails to change your spots
Chairs Homily – May 2023 After 2,500 years of history and innumerable attempts to clarify the Buddha’s message, Buddhism can still seem very complex. But at its heart it is very simple. It is about change and the acceptance of change. The problem comes because we want stability and permanence.… Read More »Accepting Change
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
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
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
Shantigarbha’s The Burning House – A Buddhist response to the climate and ecological emergency. The Burning House, which Shantigarbha describes as ‘A Buddhist view’ not ‘The Buddhist view’ is a really powerful read. In it he describes his experiences, his views and his response to the climate and ecological emergency… Read More »The Burning House by Shantigarbha
This Thursday 17th Feb at Friends Night we have the book launch by Devamitra. The book is called ‘Entertaining Cancer: The Buddhist Way.‘ In Entertaining Cancer, Devamitra chronicles his years of treatment for prostate cancer. He describes the fatigue, the heightened sense of being alive, and the discomforts and indignities… Read More »Friends Night welcomes Devamitra
We are going through that period that is the end of the last year and the beginning of the next, a Bardo, to use a Buddhist term. The Earth, our precious planet, has fully circled the Sun taking just over 365 days. It is a good time to reflect on… Read More »New Year, New Now
It doesn’t appear that the Buddha had to deal with a pandemic of the kind we are currently experiencing. 2,500 years ago the world was a much smaller place with a much smaller world population of around 30 million, half the current population of the UK. So I would imagine… Read More »The Buddha, illness and practice
