Song of the Birds
A musical piece: Cello by Thomas Rann and Piano by Wu Quian recorded 2015
Let Go, Turn Around, Return Home
I can’t remember enjoying an autumn as much as I have this one. The golden light, the cool freshness of the air, the daily colourful progress of liquid ambers on our street, trees we’d actually never fully taken cognizance of before. The virtue of relative confinement has meant coming to appreciate the vividness of the local geography, what is right
Save a Star
Jane Andino discusses Torei Zenji’s Bodhisattva’s Vow in the context of climate change and space junk. How do we realise for ourselves that all forms are the ‘sacred forms of the Tathagata’s never-failing essence’? This talk was given on day 3 at Rohatsu sesshin 2019
The Buddha Way
Jane Andino explores the term ‘The Buddha Way’ and what it means to embody it. She also looks at koan study as a practice method. This talk was given on day 2 of the Rohatsu sesshin 2019
Requiem
No doubt many of you are feeling a range of emotions in the face of the long summer drought and devastating fires that have scorched and ravaged our beautiful vast and wide sunburnt home. Our house is indeed on fire, these are the biggest out of control fires any country in the world has ever known.Our large semi-arid country is
The Star
Rohatsu means the 8thday of December, the date traditionally commemorated as the day of the Budhha’s awakening. In this talk, Jane Andino looks at different versions of the enlightenment story, the sight of the Morning Star, and the significance for our practice. This talk was given on Day 1 of the Rohatsu sesshin 2019
Wise Hope
Lately a Mountains dharma buddy has been signing her email “Towards wise hope”, and it made me consider how Wise Hope is a wonderful paramita for modern times. The phrase comes to us from the writings of Joan Halifax in which she explores suffering from the Buddhist perspective, and looks at the processes of transforming our response to it. It’s
The Whole World is Medicine
Gillian Coote, roshi explores Yunmen’s koan in light of the pressures and stresses of our lives, especially the climate emergency, and ways we may awaken to these dharma gates. This talk was given at the SZC Spring sesshin in 2019