By Kaspa I have been thinking about the foundations of spiritual practice, about what it means to be human and about what we are hoping the temple will become a container for. Sometimes our hearts are open to things as they are and the concerns of body and mind drop away. We are sweeping up […]
by Kaspa At lunchtime today a photographer for a national news agency came and took a photo of me standing in front of the temple. About ten days ago Bright Earth Buddhist Temple was in the Malvern Gazette. Then we were in the Worcester News, then the Birmingham Mail. Today we were in the Gazette
By Kaspa Buddhism and the Climate Crisis At the beginning of the week the IPPC released its sixth report. You’ve probably seen the headlines in newspapers and on the radio and television. The headline from the IPPC press release is: climate change: rapid, widespread and intensifying. This is a longer post than usual. But it’s
By Dayamay In a book by an old teacher of mine, Samsara is described as “the conditioned mind”. Human and all sentient life entwined and impossibly snared in the illusion of materialism, which draws us ever deeper in and perpetuates our predicament – the cycle of birth and death. Karma could be described as the
By Dayamay It turns out that living in a Buddhist Temple can be a very interesting thing. One of the benefits of staying in one place for a long time, is that you get to observe the fluctuations of the world from a fixed standpoint, which can prove quite advantageous at times. Here at the
Satya and Kaspa have written various reflections on their engaged Buddhism over the past year. Here are links to some of that writing: PROTESTING AT G7: GUILT, WORRY, BIG MIND AND HOPE Kaspa writes about his experience of being with XR Buddhists in Cornwall to demonstrate at the G7 summit. DEAR EARTH: WHY AM I
To my left I noticed heaps of dried brown leaves on the ground, above them tender green leaves were beginning to uncurl in the sycamore tree. A robin jumped onto a fallen branch, moving in that clockwork way that birds have, and looked into my eyes before flitting away. I was at the front of
by Kaspa ‘These things are good; these things are not blamable; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness,’ enter on and abide in them. The Kalama Sutta There are so many different kinds of suffering, and so many available teachers and teachings claiming to speak
by Kaspa The Pure Land of Amitabha is described as a land without hell realms, without suffering. It is described as a place where enlightenment comes easily, where Amitabha sits radiantly in the centre. It is a land of jewelled trees, limpid bathing pools, giant lotus flowers and musical instruments that play themselves. It is
By Dayamay Listening to one of Kaspa’s talks recently started me thinking about the epic commitments and sacrifices that we make when embarking upon the Spiritiual path. Certainly for me there was a sense of letting go of many different crutches and allowing myself to be slowly immersed in all of the stuff that I’d
