Stillness
A transcript of a Dharma talk given during meditation at Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey in 2019. I invite us please to listen to this talk by allowing ourselves to drop into Stillness as a stone drops to the bottom of … Continue reading →
Buddhist doctrines
On Retreat
Based on a conversation between the author and Rev Master Olwen Crookall-Greening in November 2023. I spent three months as a lay resident at Throssel Hole in the Autumn of 2023, and decided to write about the experience, in the … Continue reading →
Do You Need To Be Religious To Practice Zen?
The brief answer is: it depends on what you mean by ‘religious’. If we see ‘being religious’ as believing in a set of religious doctrines that define belonging to a particular religion, then I would say the answer is … Continue reading →
Willing Acceptance
Practising willing acceptance is a gateway to trust and Right Understanding. In formal meditation we sit in willing acceptance by being here openly with everything that shows itself, without interfering with it, without judging it, without dividing it into … Continue reading →
Patience and the Three Pure Precepts Go Hand in Hand
This is an edited transcript of a talk given at Shasta Abbey in June 2023. I would like to start with a story about an animal that I grew up with in the Midwest, the buffalo. Actually what I … Continue reading →
A Gift From Mom
My mother recently gave me a cup. It has JAPAN stamped on the bottom. I think it is a pretty common design, I’ve seen it often in second-hand stores. It’s unusual as cups go only because it has two layers; … Continue reading →
My Experience of Sangha
This article first appeared in the May-August 2023 issue of the Portobello Priory Newsletter. You must know the ideal; you must accept the actual. Only thus can you help others and yourself. ― Rōshi P.T.N.H. Jiyu-Kennett, The Wild, White … Continue reading →
Some Thoughts on ‘Guest’ and ‘Host’
I have been thinking about the idea of ‘guest’ and ‘host’ in Buddhism and how it plays out in our daily lives. This is a concept I come across occasionally, and it hasn’t always been clear to me what … Continue reading →
The Secret of Life Is Will and Words Are Its Key
In honour of the memory of Rev. Master Jishō, and with gratitude for his life of teaching, we offer this article which is an edited transcript of a talk given at Shasta Abbey in 2007. I do have … Continue reading →
Pure Seeing, and What Makes it Possible
Offered in loving memory of Reverend Master Jishō and Reverend Master Saidō. There is that within each of us which sees what is here with openness and without doing anything with it, adding something to it, turning away … Continue reading →