An edited transcript of a talk given at Shasta in March 2024. Last month I celebrated my 50th ordination anniversary as a monk. I don’t mention this because I think it was a big deal, a great accomplishment or anything … Continue reading →
How do I fully live life until I die? Having retired from being Abbot at a Sōtō Zen monastery, and now living in a small village near Cambridge in the UK, there is the wish to live brightly until … Continue reading →
This title may be taken as sounding rather weary, dreary and depressed, or as a statement of positive basic Buddhist training. Both are true for me, and I will continue this training forever. It may not match up with … Continue reading →
Whilst watching a wildlife programme, I was touched by the effort salmon were making to return to the part of the river where they had been born. Swimming up waterfalls and over shallow rapids, whilst bears tried to catch … Continue reading →
This is an edited transcript of a Dharma talk given at Shasta Abbey in June 2022 to commemorate Memorial Day. Last Sunday, we concluded our Jukai Retreat. It’s always inspiring for me to see new people coming and taking … Continue reading →
Originally published on the Pine Mountain Buddhist Temple website. Since the old Zen Writings were done in times when people were much closer to nature than we in our urbanized society are, it makes sense that some of the … Continue reading →
What does it mean to make right effort in our practice? You probably know some of the Buddha’s own advice on this. He tells us: it is like the strings on an instrument. If they are too slack, they … Continue reading →
Today I’m going to talk a little about monastic life, and why a person might want to become a monk. We don’t often do this, for a number of reasons. One is that we don’t want to give the … Continue reading →
This article first appeared in the September – December 2023 Portobello Buddhist Priory Newsletter. This version has been edited. These are a few personal thoughts about ‘darkness’. I am not exploring how concepts of dark and light are … Continue reading →
I am alive! and I love my old age. When I was younger I felt so much confusion and hesitation, many doubts and fears, and I felt vulnerable. There was so much I didn’t understand. I was a foreigner … Continue reading →