Finally I managed to change my photograph to a more recent one. It was taken almost exactly a year ago at the end of the last retreat held at the Priory in Edmonton. Many thanks to Michael who skillfully managed to overcome my resistance to being photographed and then was able to put me at my ease. Thank you, and thank you Edmonton people I think of you all often.

It is almost one year since I ceased being the Priory in Edmonton. This is from a posting I did on June 17th, 2006 titled Moving Right Along.

We are moving on.
We are moving into new territory.
We are moving deeper than our fears of the future.
We are moving past what has gone.
We are MOVING and the day is a week from tomorrow.

We are moving apart.
…and that’s a hard one, for me.

I could have known better!
Do avoid the should word.

The results were…
Not bad, not good, not satisfactory

Do remind me next time,
Not to soak in biological.

My Tilley Hat!
Turned patchy yellow/orange.

No, don’t whiten your whites
By soaking over night.

When next morning comes…
You’ll be mighty disappointed.

You know you should-uv-not,
Could-uv-not done it.

It’s the story of my life! When will I ever learn to keep away from anything with, even a hint of, bleach in it? Other monks soak, they separate their whites from their colours, and their sheets and towels glisten on the line. My beloved Tilley Hat from Vancouver, a kind gift, now skulks damp and patchy on top of my walking boots to dry.

I’m always heartened when I hear of people working in institutions who have the courage to break or bend the rules in order to respond to a human, or in this case an animal need in a hospital Emergency Department.

While you are in Australia you might want to download the e-book How to be a Nurse, which Ed of impactEdnurse has put together from posts to his blog. Prepare to be edified and inspired, you don’t need to be a nurse either.

Thanks again Ed for your contribution of humour, wisdom and hands-on practical advice. Wonderful! We all benefit.

A Sunday supplement magazine, published in March this year, on Mental Health fell into my mail slot. As tired as I was on Sunday afternoon I read it cover to cover. It is through this magazine I learned about the ground breaking work and compassionate approach of Dr. Rufus May, a young Clinical Psychologist and former psychiatric patient. There are many articles written by him on the Internet, a number of interviews too. And within all of what he describes, he retains a sense of humour. This publicity stunt reflect that.

August 2006: As a teenager with schizophrenia he saw the mental health system brutalise patients. He became a doctor to change things from within. Now he is pushing a bed from London to Brighton.

Dr Rufus May and a group of fellow campaigners will tomorrow start pushing a bed from Brighton to London to raise awareness of the forced use of drugs and ECT in psychiatric hospitals. The bed, complete with a dummy patient, will be chased by a giant syringe. There will also be an ECT machine offering free “treatments” to the general public.

Yesterday it was my turn to lead the monthly festival ceremony. We celebrated the life and teaching of Dogen, and then afterwards I gave a talk to the gathered community and visting guests. Now it’s time to pack up the very many books I’ve been reading of Zen Master Dogens writings, and the commentaries on his writings, and file away my own voluminous notes on Dogen.

Over the last month I’ve gained a greater appreciation of our first Japanese Ancestor and his particular contribution to Buddhist thought and practice. In the statement the celebrant makes at the time of offering incense at the beginning of the ceremony I used the word stupendous to describe Dogen. While I do not find myself adequately equipped to wax lyrical, or write in detail about his teaching I can at least stand and cheer. He was stupendous, awesome in fact. That, however, is all to no avail if we were not to put his teaching into practice. That would make for a hollow cheer would it not? Here is the blessing verse:

This ceremony is offered in memory of the Great Priest, Eihei Dogen. First Japanese Ancestor and a stupendous figure in our Dharma Family.

“Time flies quicker than an arrow and life passes with greater transience than dew. The life of this one day, to-day, is absolutely vital life.”

Let us daily express gratitude. Let us keep alive the Smile of Shakyamuni Buddha as well as the Smile of all the Buddhas and Ancestors of present, past and future.
Blessing statement for Dogen Day, 2007.

The table where I studied while in Wales on retreat in May.