Double Tea Potting


Imagine my delight when this wonderful statue came to visit last evening. It stands 20 inches high and was found in a dustbin. A genuine 1950’s Bugs Bunny statue standing in the classic double teapot stance, hands rolled up and placed on hips.

As a younger monk I was pulled up for double tea potting while trying to get across a point to the head cook. There is also single tea potting, if the point being made is just a minor one. I was completely unaware of this stance and have since wondered if it helps get the point across more forcefully, or not. I have my doubts.


It was too good an opportunity to miss. A practical joke in the rabbit infested garden. Many of us saw the funny side…

Rabbits on the Run



The talk around these parts is of rabbits. At this time of year they are wrecking havoc in the gardens, the young ones especially. As one monk put it, they are eating the flowers before they have a chance to grow, let alone blossom. One solution is to flush them out by a whole team of us trawling through the larger garden in a row, sending them towards the garden gate. The gardens are fortified but there are always the adventurous few who find their way in. It only takes one or two baby rabbits to get inside the fences to make for sad and frustrated gardeners.

The garden across the yard from where I work has been the site of much cunning, both on the part of rabbits and the garden caretaker. This morning the second of the three inside the garden was caught, by hand! Two down and one to go. We do use live traps as well as basic stealth by the way. The fencing within the garden is only temporary it being used to flush out the bunnies into open lawn and when there the determined caretaker hurdles the back wall and chases the culprit(s) out of the open gate.

Last evening, just at the crucial moment, one of the cats just happened to wandered through the open gate subverting the current operation. No amount of sweet talking would turn that cat around.

Irrational and of a Magical Nature

Jorge Luis Borges (August 24, 1899June 14, 1986)
In lonely basements and drafty attics on park benches and noisy coffee shops people are at it, they are writing. People have been writing down there thoughts for ever and I must say I do enjoy reading about the lives of such people. Often incredible tales of loves gained and lost, of hardships and near miraculous recovery and behind them they leave huge literary gifts. Never has it been so easy to read about the lives of writers. Jorge Luis Borges for example, an Argentine writer who wrote this:
“It is often forgotten that (dictionaries) are artificial repositories, put together well after the languages they define. The roots of language are irrational and of a magical nature.”
-Jorge Luis Borges, Prologue to “El otro, el mismo.”
I came across the above quote having followed a link given me by one of the monks who is keen on words, that’s Etymology. The Online Etymology Dictionary is a real gem for those who are interested in exploring the roots of our language…which are irrational and of a magical nature.

In Revolting Mood

I’ve made it back to the monastery earlier than I’d anticipated and I’m in the mood for Revolting Rhymes.

Roald Dahl ‘s version of Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs are decidedly different, as was the author.

Dharma Flix Wiki

Welcome to the newly introduced DharmaFlix video wiki. DharmaFlix.com is a collaborative effort to list and review films with Dharma content for the benefit of all.

Have a go why not? Write a review. I’m gearing myself up to mention the series, My Name is Earl.

I’ll be traveling to Edinburgh tomorrow and then on to Dundee on Saturday for a day retreat and will not post here while away. Back on Sunday.