The function of a Buddhist teacher is to facilitate the growth of others toward spiritual maturity. In simple terms this means bringing out their leadership abilities, their capacity themselves to facilitate others, to trust their most wholesome instincts, to become, in some sense, "trustees" of the planet and its denizens. This was the original sense of the word sangha. A sangha is a ruling council and those who founded Buddhism as a kind of religious reform movement were concerned that…

You can't make omlettes without breaking eggs. We all know this phrase and its basic meaning. Within it there lies the deep truth and great grief of this relative world in which we live and have our being. To build a house one must clear ground, destroying vegetation, displacing small animals and destroying their habitat, one must obtain materials by digging up the earth somewhere else - we passed a very ugly cement works in the middle of an otherwise spectacularly beautiful coastline a…

In the past month I've watched the ocean waves a lot. The big ones come in groups. They ocean seems to accommodate both long wave-lengths and short ones. When the two happen to coincide at the shore you get the big breakers. Those are the ones that the surfers on the sea and the photographers on the shore like best. They plunge in breaking and crashing and, at the same time, generating beautiful patterns of curve, colour and contrast.

The waves in human affairs are similar. They…

I have now created a new ning site for Tariki at http://tarikitrust.ning.com. Since the separation between Amida Trust and Tariki Trust happened last month, I will gradually be moving off this site and onto the new Tariki one. If you want to keep in touch with me, The…

I am having a very sad week. Out of nowhere and quite by accident I discover the poetry of Seamus Heaney. I am in awe. What exquisite words are these? What beauty! What tenderness. Perfectly formed portraits and miniatures.

I have never read anything like it. I am limiting my intake. You know how sometimes you
catch a particularly beautiful scent?  That if you breathe it in too much then you'll lose it altogether? Just so with Heaney's words. Thank you Seamus.

I was recently reviewing some work by a doctoral candidate and this examination led to interesting conversation regarding the nature of research. People may get involved in doing research for many reasons but not all of these motivations are likely to lead to good results. It is, for instance, quite common for people to approach research with a desire to prove a point. They have a hunch or conviction that something is the case and they want to amass evidence. While this is a completely…

Well, here I am,back with my Indian Sanga, in Delhi after much delay, owing to an accident resulting in two broken legs. I usually spend six months ministering here a year but will only manage two and a half this time.Jnanamati has done a wonderful job of setting up the new accommodation and taking the children's Buddhist classes in my absence. He travels on to Assam next week. he has done so much during his time here, helping prepare our aspirants for the ordination ceremony to be…

In the morning I walk the children to school. Our dog Balou goes with us.

Balou needs to go to the toilet and I have my plastic bag with me. Sometimes the cleaning is not so well done and

I have some Sh on my finger top. David said "what are you doing?", after I torn down a leave from a plant along the path. "Well, I have Sh on my hand and want to clean it". "Oh, yes and then you put your hand in your pocket!"  No, David I will not. I go home and wash my hands. So I said and so…

(« Detail of a poster for the International Hygiene Exhibition 1911 in Dresden » by Franz von Stuck)

« Understanding » is the third segue in the series that I have written…

I don't know what to do about the evictions from Parliament square but I do know how to bow. I shall be bowing there from 10.00 to 11.00 a.m. tomorrow. Join me if you wish.

Thomas Myojo

I had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.  I finally found romance with a friend who I have known for most of the time I have lived on my boat as we are neighbours.  So, our Christmas and New Year were very special.  As we live next door to a pub/restaurant we spent most of the holidays there having our Chrismas lunch and at a New Years Eve party - which just happened to be my birthday too.

I've been doing a lot of walking around the area.  Last weekend spent three hours in Wicken Fen…

Ragdoll

Shall I with you

to the floor descend

perfect rose, child, friend?

for they have broken that

which cannot mend

Walk I shall

that space alone

 - secret perfect sacred home -

unspeaking there retrace the call

the debt fulfilled, repaid the loan.

A doll! raggedy…

Am 33 and a half weeks pregnant. At the scan earlier this week we saw her yawn  while stretching her hand and touching the placenta that is in the front of the stomach. How extraordinary!  

(To help you understand the photo: The sonographer did say that photos of the scan at this point in the pregnancy wouldn't be as great as the early ones because the baby has grown so much. The circumference of her head is roughly 37cm which means that her head is probably the size of a…

I received this information about a retreat for those involved in education and thought I'd share in case it is of onterest to anyone?

Educators’ Retreat  An Exploration of Mindful Education Retreat for teachers, head teachers, teaching assistants, youth workers, and others involved in education.   Friday, 30th March (6pm) to Monday, 2nd April (1pm)   Please join us in London for a special retreat for educators with Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh, learning from one another and from…

This is by way of something of a New Year's Resolution,I suppose. I'm really going to try to stop seeing the Pure Land as 'just' a metaphor, and to  view it as absolutely real. In other words,I'm not going to 'soften' the dharma and compromise its integrity to make it acceptable to people to whom the 'scientific' world view is the only mode of perception. I have absolutely no quarrel with science - it has its own, often very effective, approach to the universe, and spirituality has its own…

Is celibacy a requirement for spiritual insight? I was reading a chapter on Pureland Buddhism last night in Sangharakshitas 'A survey of Buddhism'. In it he offers a critique of Pureland as follows:

 "From it's doctrine of surrender to the other power of Amitabha, the Jodo Shin Shu drew the logical but completely false conclusion that one should make no attempt to gain enlightenment through one's own efforts. Under this misapprehension Shinran and his followers renounced the…