By Maria Chumak The role of a Teacher (with a capital T!) has been celebrated and explored in many Eastern cultures. There is usually an image of a struggling searcher, often suffering and lost within the troubles of their life, and at the point when they are about to lose all hope there appears a […]
By Daymay Dunsby Since the beginning of the year I’ve been engaged in the million nembutsu practice. 2,700 a day for 365 days, recited rapidly over 25 minutes. I’ve found that it has really reignited my love for practice, just for the sake of practice. I didn’t feel lacking in my spiritual life or a
I’m looking forward to visiting the temple this week. I have been so focused on painting during a residential course, it will be good to connect with the Buddha in the peace, beauty and energy of the temple. Have I had a dharma glimpse? Not really, I have been doing very basic stuff like remembering to
Dharma Glimpse by Maria Chumak If you asked me to choose one word I’m trying to focus on in my meditations these days, I would probably say “gratitude”. It’s something that’s very difficult to grasp in everyday routine as we get stressed and frustrated with so many things in the outside world, and quite frequently
A Dharma Glimpse by David Hope David describes a spiritual experience. Just over a year ago, in November 2020, I was walking my friend’s dog on thecommon at the bottom of Thirlstane Road. The weather was unsettled with rainshowers and the clouds were moving quite rapidly in the wind. As they did so acrescent moon
Kaspa & I have been watching the situation with Omicron in the UK closely, and have taken the decision to close the temple to the public for a little while. It feels important to do our bit to help reduce infections nationwide and to help our already-struggling NHS. We will still offer our twice-weekly Zoom sessions
by Dayamay The word salvation is related to the word commonly used for sodium chloride – salt. In alchemy it refers to the ‘fixed-salt’, which is central to the intimacies of the tri-unity principle and mediator between the other two substances of great symbolic significance, sulphur and mercury. There is an immense amount of quite
Bodhi Day The Buddha’s awakening was supported by the Earth: a great naga serpent cheered the Buddha on towards enlightenment, he was awakened under a Bodhi tree and when challenged called upon the Earth goddess to witness and verify his awakening. What can we learn from the Buddha’s relationship with the natural world and how
I’m interested in the different interpretations that arise in various contexts about the nature of faith. What is faith and how do we define it in spiritual or religious terms, and how do those definitions differ? What is the difference between religious and non-religious faith? Is it all tantamount to religion really? Sentimental or superstitious
By Kaspa I thought of a really good analogy for practice, with human beings being represented by solar systems and the planets being our bad habits and the sun being our self-concern. I started writing it out and it all sounded so complicated! Maybe I’ll try and present it another time. Today I’ll share a
