Colourful Lives

1f4e0ccd-10cc-4a21-9cab-2044fc5700a1 Here are three fairly randomly chosen photos. Food does feature it seems! Walking in Freiburg last Thursday, out the corner of my eye, I spotted chips with mayonnaise being eaten ‘on the wing’. Later after the visit to the awesome cathedral, a wander through the fruit and veg market and window shopping I was guided back, for chips. Most welcome by that time.

The plate of food includes Selsify a root vegetable, common in markets in Europe. It grows deep into the soil, black on the outside and ‘interesting’ to prepare. You’d need to look it up for details.

And the sun set! Something to behold as my host and I took a fairly long evening walk, a vineyard and streets featured as we walked into darkness. The colours of the sunset constantly changing, until the sky was black.

As we walked our surroundings were  constantly changing, just like  the conditions of our personal lives do, both inside and outside. And the conditions of others, near and far, and dear.

Thanks to my hosts, for their incredible generosity. with their ‘patients’! I put my hand up to having been stress and tired when I first arrived from Manchester. Thankfully I was free to spend time just being – doing very little although there was sorting and hanging curtains…..

Now at the Dharmazuvlucht in the Black Forest, a temple of our order. Here till I move on to The Netherlands on 3rd March.

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Merit Traveling – Merit Living

High up in the Black Forest this afternoon, bright sunshine. Snow. Hang gliders jumping off a bank into the wind. ‘Want a ride’? he said. I smiled as it was ‘obviously’ a joke, but it wasn’t! Needless to say I stayed on the ground. We do, after all, have a rule not to take unnecessary risks. Riding pillion on a hang gliding flight? I think not. So glad to be a monk.

Tonight my mind is very much focused on my underlying spiritual intention. For this trip and life in general. Ultimately all efforts to put that into words, fail. Enough to say one endeavours to do ones very best. Which involves a lot of not doing.

Join in with me and add our best efforts together

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Merit Traveling

I fly to Germany from Manchester airport this evening and will be away visiting individual sangha and temples for approximately six weeks.

This post is for all those, known and unknown, who are in extremity.

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The ‘Art’ is to Live Like This – A poem

Art
What we want:
Moments
Of clarity
Or better yet: of great
Clarity

Those moments are scarce
And also well hidden
Searching
hardly makes sense, but
Finding does

The art is to live like this
That it happens to you

That clarity, now and then

By Dutch poet, Martin Bril

Thanks to a chap who was here for the New Year Retreat who referenced this poem in a message sent via the Contact facility on this website. Only too happy to get such messages via this means.

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Practice Within The Order of Buddhist Contemplatives