Category Archives: Falls Between the Cracks

Falls Between the Cracks, Information

Your Suggestions Please

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Here is the text for the About section of Jade Mountains. As you can see I’m linking to a selection of postings. I’d appreciate your suggestions on what would be good to include.

Who? I’m a female disciple and Dharma Heir of the late Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett having been ordained by her at Shasta Abbey California in 1981 and named a Master in 2000. Since 1996 I’ve served as the international O.B.C. Lay Ministry Adviser. I started to write a blog in 2003 however it was only in April 2005, when I embarked on a Pilgrimage to East Asia, that I started writing regularly. Initially I just wanted to share the sights and sounds of my journey with fellow monastics and lay friends. And I guess that’s what I’m still doing…

Here’s a selection of postings to give you an overview of what I write about.

Why? Good question! In the end I think I continue to pump in text because this is a way I can pass on the teachings of Buddhism, given my set of monastic circumstances and responsibilities. There is a pull towards Compassion, that’s why.

What’s Offered? Apart from the blog, which tends to take center stage at present, there are links to basic teachings and scriptures we use within the O.B.C., some book recommendations, articles addressing themes in practice, Dharma Talks. This is work in progress, I’m limited by the amount of time I can devote to developing the site.

In Brief What you will find here is a medley of expression and to derive benefit from it, like a musical composition, there is a needs to listen with attention, within oneself. Somewhat poetic, yet true.

Just so you know, the views/ideas/teachings expressed here on this site do not necessarily represent those of the Order as a whole.

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Curiosities, Falls Between the Cracks, Out and About

Here and Now

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Here are my hosts of the last two days moving towards Chichester Cathedral.

We walked around the old walls of Chichester this morning. There’s Greyfriers where William Blake was tried for….? Following the thread of interest (and curiosity) Wikipedia gave us the answer.

He (William Blake) rejected all forms of imposed authority; indeed, he was charged with assault and uttering seditious and treasonable expressions against the King in 1803, though he later was cleared in the Chichester assizes of the charges. The charges were brought by a soldier called John Schofield after Blake had bodily removed him from his garden, allegedly exclaiming, “Damn the king. The soldiers are all slaves.”[17] According to a report in the Sussex county paper, “The invented character of [the evidence] was … so obvious that an acquittal resulted.”[18] Schofield was later depicted wearing “mind forged manacles” in an illustration to Jerusalem.[19]
Wikipedia entry for William Blake.

Blake lived in Sussex as do my hosts. At the renewal of their marriage vows they had the following piece of Blake read out. After some research we found the quote is from J.B.Priestly’s *Time and the Conways and not Auguries of Innocence.

Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born;
Every morn and every night;
Some are born to sweet delight;
Some are born to sweet delight;
Some are born to endless night.
Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine;
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.
It is right it should be so:
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know
Safely through the world we go.

The play (Time and the Conways)emerged out of Priestley’s reading of J. W. Dunne’s book An Experiment with Time in which Dunne posits that all Time is happening simultaneously ie that past, present, future are one and that linear Time is only the way in which human consciousness is able to perceive this.

Nothing like following a thread of thought and interest leading back to here and now. I think this post is about creativity.

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Falls Between the Cracks

We’re Smokin!

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Why do some stars twinkle? Why do some cycle through yellow, cyan and magenta so impressively? Thus we ponder this evening, my walking monk companion and I. We spin on the subject of stars and colour balance and photo printing for awhile, we then move on. There is no lack of subjects to talk about as we walk in the dark. One sojourn with this monk and I have enough material for a blogging week. For some odd reason the thought of smoking a cigarette came to mind towards the end of our walk. I’ve not lit up for over 30 years and have no intention of starting again, however old thoughts surface, and pass. Not a problem.

Walking up the lane after meditation this evening the stars were no longer visible, the sulky moon no where to be seen. The whole valley is filled with smoke, somewhere something is burning. This is unusual and no doubt we’ll hear about it.

But what is really smokin’ (an American expression I believe) is the behind the scenes work on both this site and Jade Mountains. Heavens! if I hadn’t been so busy this past week(s) I’d have been occupying myself trying to understand the process of the two sites becoming one site. So, very soon this page will be looking rather different. I hope you will remain patient while all of this is happening. I cannot pretend to know what this development means in practice however it feels to me as dramatic as a house on fire. What will be left when the smoke clears?

Many thanks to my friend in Texas, a fellow Buddhist blogger and all round generous chap, who is beavering away behind the scenes in his spare time. And thanks also to my walking companion who helps me unstintingly in so many ways.

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Curiosities, Falls Between the Cracks

Oh Joy!

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Wet and windy driving conditions (North West of England), endless long strait roads over flat fens (Norfolk), my favourite service station temporally rendered a building site (southbound Westmorland Services) all pale into insignificance in the face of a FAST INTERNET CONNECTION. Oh Joy, indeed.

But the subject on my mind this evening is memory, short term memory and the loss of it which comes with advancing years. I visited an elderly woman this afternoon who struggled to remember what she had just said and what she wanted to say right now. This happens to the best of us however at a certain point in ones life I can see how very frightening this can be. The question I am left with now is how much we/society equate loss of short term memory with dementia, especially in the elderly. Just a thought, a thought with a ladle full of compassion along with it.

Many thanks to Chris and his wife in Preston Lancashire where I’m staying before going on to Manchester tomorrow for a day retreat in the center of town. Hopefully by the end of Sunday I’ll be back in Northumberland again attempting to reconnect with tasks as yet not tackled. These involve activating long term memory, which I don’t have a problem with!

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Daily Life, Falls Between the Cracks

Moving Right Along

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My mother died on this day, 11th December, 1995.
I learnt a new word this morning, Segue. It seemed unlikely I’d manage to accomplish the task of getting an order of stamps picked up in Hexham at such short notice. However the sequence of events leading to eventually getting them moved smoothly, sooo smoothly, one following upon another in a near miraculous way. Applauding the day aloud somebody said, Oh that’s segue, one thing following another smoothly.

In the process of looking up the word I discovered Websters On-Line Dictionary. Should I ever need to spell out this word in Semaphore, or British Sign Language, I’ll know where to look. What a gem!

I’d say the timing around mothers death was segue, if that is the correct way to use this word. Much about our relationship was segue.

This post is for Johnny, his brother, their aunt and their late mum. My mum too.

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