Acharya Kaspalita (temple host)

For me – taking my Buddhist practice outside and making time for practising in outdoors has become increasingly important. I suggest that it should be important to us all. I am sure the climate crisis has in part come about through our disconnection from the natural world.

It’s been a while since I read through the Pali cannon but I can’t remem…[Read more]

Here’s the talk I gave this morning:

We are the Earth’s disciples.

Why did the Buddha touch the Earth following his enlightenment experience?  When I was speaking to David Loy a few weeks ago he reminded me that the Buddha touched the Earth in response to Mara’s question, “Who confirms your awakening?”

Who confirms our awakening, I wondered. I remembered my Acharya ceremony…[Read more]

Satya, Caroline, Dayamay Modgala and Padma are joining the climate crisis demonstrations in London over the next two weeks. Why is is so important?

Many of you will know already, but I wanted to share this news report from the news at ten last night. Very sympathetic to the cause, and clear on the climate science.

On Friday morning I lit the candles and emptied the water offering bowls ready to be filled again. There would be just two of us practicing together. Later as we sat and joined our voices in chanting the name of the Buddha, I was reminded again that the act of making an offering is already meaningful, perfect and complete. It does not have to be…[Read more]

Powerlessness and loving acts

On Wednesday evening I watched the temple door, ready to open it for people arriving for service. Fi, my Bell Master was lighting candles and setting up the shrine room. The minutes ticked on, and nobody came to the door.

Five minutes before service Fi rang the gong. I heard Brian’s footsteps on the stairs. In e…[Read more]

Yesterday when I was out walking, I saw what looked like a small path through the trees. I lifted one bough out of the way, and stepped onto a small track, just enough room for one foot in front of the other. I wasn’t sure if this was a track that had been made by human animals, or non-human animals.

The path continued through the trees, and up…[Read more]

I have a very slow project of writing about what we value here at the temple. A few weeks ago I wrote a little about honesty. Today I want to say something about tradition.

What do I mean by tradition? That our way of doing things has a deep connection and respect for how things have been done before us. What does this mean in practice? It means…[Read more]