A Dharma Glimpse by Alexander Hopkins, reflecting on “Living Nembutsu” book group Thinking about what we spoke about last week about being the “centre of the universe”, made me reflect on how at times I am guilty of this. Ok so not maybe that self absorbed but certainly wanting people to notice me so I […]
Dharma Glimpse by Chris E-S I’ve been thinking a lot about death recently. It seems as if I am surrounded by reminders of mortality: the news of the death of a friend from another Sangha who had been fighting cancer for many months; the variegated holly bush I had planted in memory of our old
Dharma Glimpse by Kokuu My Zen friend Sarah told me about the Merlin app for identifying birdsong. I live in a small village in east Kent and one day when I was sitting outside with the dogs, I opened the app to see what birds it would recognise. The most interesting thing for me is
Dharma Glimpse by Chris E-S Looking out into our garden, it’s hard to believe that we are well into Spring. The borders are so wet that there is a natural water feature forming amongst the soggy roses and shrubs. Even the hardy daffodils seem to be struggling to survive this year. However, if it ever
Dharma Glimpse by Jules I was reading an article about how our brains process our thoughts, each thought interlinking, leading to another thought and then another, thus creating chains of thoughts or ‘thought worms’ (as named by Dr. Poppenk and Julie Tseng). It is estimated that we have approximately 6200 of these thought worms a
I really like the wording of our precepts ‘may I be aware of WHEN,’ not IF, but WHEN, which acknowledges our vulnerability and our basic human being-ness. There are many times when we will fail spectacularly to fulfil our precepts, and actually that’s what they’re there for, to remind us, to bring us back, to
Dharma glimpse by Dave As well as being a tenant at the temple, I have various roles that I have taken on here. For a couple of years now I have volunteered to do the flowers in the shrine room, I tend to do these first thing on a Saturday morning before practice with the
Dharma Glimpse by Philip I went to garden practice here at Bright Earth one Saturday recently. I love going as it feels like starting the weekend in a positive way; fresh air, nature, noticing inner and outer worlds much more, doing an activity with Sangha members, feeling calmer, more observant and more grateful….. I remember
DG by Paramita Walking meditation in the Temple garden always wakes me up a bit. Not in the literal sense, but in the Spiritual sense. Immersion in the freshness and raw energy of Nature. The sights, sounds and feelings that offer themselves, generously, in place of discursive thought. Today the birdsong was particularly striking. Like
Dharma Glimpse by Luna I’ve noticed that the judgment my ego makes as a way to keep me safe, or to get a need met, can get in there first before my desire to be connected & supportive. This shows up particularly in my family, as I’ve become aware of dynamics & patterns. (Remembering the
