Acharya Sujatin (temple host)

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]

From my therapy blog

In our Buddhist community, at the invitation of our local XR group, we dedicate one practice session each month to the living earth. In our most recent session I talked about and made a space for grief, and I’ll share some of those same thoughts here.

Grief

I remember a childhood holiday to Cornwall. We drove down from t…[Read more]

I’m thinking about the transcendental nature of the Nembutsu – Namo Amida Bu – syllables of great compassion.

As with transcendental meditation, the long, continuous repetition of the syllables can open up different mind spaces – visions, sensations, feelings, auditory hallucinations.

I’m thinking about the physical components of opening t…[Read more]

Our new Tai Shi Chih shine here at Amida Mandala. You can read more about Tai Shih Chi here: Mahastamaprapta

“This book is a love letter. I don’t know you, but I can make a few guesses about you…”

This is the beginning of my book ‘What Helps’. Today I am offering it to you as a gift. Download one for yourself, or share this with a friend who’s been struggling (that’s all of us, sometimes). 🙏

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2IMvS9F
Amazon US:…[Read more]

The labels and storylines I give to all the sights, sounds and events which unfold around me determine to a large extent how I will experience them.

Moments of open awareness which sometimes occur when I am surprised out of my habitual labels, storylines and responses by events which break through my routines can reveal unexpected, more fluid…[Read more]

This is a practice track for this year’s Festival of Faith at Holland House, Cropthorne.

Here’s the web address: http://www.hollandhouse.org/

This year’s performances are from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday June 23rd 2019. The Malvern Temple Community Choir performance is from 4.00 p.m. to…[Read more]

Very little Amida-group comes together this weekend: I think we will be four of us. Theme : The Summary of Faith and Practice. Big theme!!! Much commentaries on the Eleusis-site of Dharmavidya, so I studied a lot on it…. and translated things into dutch to understand better and help others to understand better with Dutch texts … and after all,…[Read more]

On June 22nd, 2019, 10.30-12.00, at Amida Mandala Temple, Malvern, I am leading a session on choir arrangements of Pureland Buddhist Mantras for Malvern Civic Week. It would be lovely to see you there. But if you can’t make it (or if you can), here are the three parts of an arrangement of a Jizo mantra that I have…[Read more]

Early mornings used to be All Mine. I wake before Kaspa to the luxury of choosing what to plant in a golden hour – playing in my journal, reading books that light me up, or giving my tight muscles the gift of stretching.

Now I am on morning duty with Aiko. After taking her to her toilet spot in the garden and getting the bunnies up, we hang out…[Read more]

As you can see, our new family member Aiko has arrived. Friends have asked me how the past week has been, and I’ve used the word ‘rollercoaster’ a lot.

She’s brought broken nights, anxiety, arguments, frustrated tears and – once – a flash of deep regret.

She’s also brought enthusiastic nose-licking, huge learning, lovely new connections with…[Read more]