Monthly Archives: April 2016

photograph, Teachings

Is, Was and Will be Enlightened

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bud and blossom1

And the day came
when the risk
to remain tight
in a bud
was more painful
than the risk it took
to blossom.

Anais Nin

I love what I read on Listening Ear. This article Asking for Help, Risk and Reward was in the monthly newsletter, where I picked up on the above quote. Thanks Megan. You are a blossom one and no mistake. As are all the budding blossoms in the world. That would be all beings. Note I wrote budding blossoms pointing out our lives are not bound by time. Shakyamuni Buddha is, was and will be Enlightened TOGETHER WITH all living things. And with the historic Buddha in mind……

We are coming up for the time of the celebration of the Buddha’s birth and enlightenment, known as Wesak. This Sunday I’ll be at Throssel  to celebrate. If the snow isn’t too deep!

photograph, Teachings

Unbounded Living

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Bird in the sky

Oh Holy Buddha I pray
I may continue to
fly in the clear blue sky.

Falling to the ground I pray
I will land on both feet
rising again on joy filled wings.

Rising, falling
1000 times down
1001 times up.

Near or far high or low
up or gasping
for life itself.

Within and beyond
is the boundless sky.
We are as that.


This post, the merit of this post, is for those who are struggling with life itself.
The gist of the above writing comes from a piece I recited at the end of my Chief Junior ceremony. Which I did in 1982. The ceremony marks a major step in ones novice training. Thank you to Mark for this amazing photograph. He was not to know how special the image is for me. As it is for him.

Daily Life, Teachings

Going on Beyond

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1Gorse on Farleton Fell

High is the clear blue sky.
Prickly is the gorse and yellow.
Farleton Fell, on the way up
bitter wind, Sky Larks
larking

Less on my Sunday walking and more of Sitting Buddha Hermitage where Rev. Alicia is introducing The Scripture of Great Wisdom. Very useful background to this most chanted of scriptures. Let there be more, line by line, contemplations on this scripture. Which touches my heart. Bows to you Rev. Alicia, keep going on. Please.

Pulling up through the Gorse on Farleton Fell I was thinking ‘Nothing is achieved without a struggle’. And when one is walking a steep and prickly path that certainly is the case. Struggle, onwards and upwards. But I’m not going to use that thought as my mantra for life.

Daily Life, Overcome Difficulties, photograph

So be it, Truly

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1Writing desk
This writing desk was asking for some serious TLC and I’ve taken on the task. Bought at the local Charity Shop, it was love at first sight. I’d wanted a writing desk and now I have one. Or has it got me!

This is the before photograph of the desk in its original, scratched and flaking state. You will see the after picture ‘in due course’. This is my ‘intention’ desk. To write more and more often desk. With a coat of paint tender care along with love will be etched into the wood. It’s a hand-writing desk. Somewhere special and specific I can return to sit down and take up an actual pen, with ink. Proper ink. No great novel or even great thoughts, simply a place to land before, put pen to paper and see what comes. Blog posts and thoughts I didn’t even know were there. Who knows.

Now here is a woman who has herself a desk too. She calls it her Intellectual Altar.

So now when I sit down with a cup of tea and either my laptop or notebook, I have a clean, uncluttered space to contemplate: a place where I can spread out my books, papers, or whatever else I’m working on. Just as a Dharma room Buddha is a visual representation of the calm, compassionate focus we’d like to attain, my desk is a tangible reminder of the priorities and practices I’d like to cultivate.

From Horded Ordinaries
Amen to that. So be it, truly.

Overcome Difficulties, Teachings

The Irreparable Hour

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River Bela - in full spate
River Bela – in full spate
Tempus fugit: Time is fleeting. Where tempus fugit appears as fugit inreparabile tempus it is: it escapes, irretrievable time.

Ah the flying time!
Fast flies
meanwhile
the
irreparable hour.

In Zen we have a verse:

Time flies
As an Arrow
Flies from a bow.

To the teacher then:

I wish to sit
beside you
And learn from you.
Always.

The verses are a commitment, a deep one. Yes, time passes and deeper still there is never a time when one does not learn from ‘the teacher’.

This post is for all those who are caught in the irreparable hour. The space from diagnosis and a date for surgery. The space from date of surgery to surgery. Time does not fly then. Time wears heavy boots then. And still we can sit beside/in our heavy boots, the interminable hour. And learn. For ever.

Sounds trite perhaps but what else is there?