Last summer, I became enthused to create a three month online Mindfulness Training Course (MTC) based on the Buddha’s teachings, as well as experiences, reflections and insights over the past few decades. It seemed a worthwhile project. …
Have you ever started a project? Then wondered: “What have I got myself into?”Read More »
Have you ever started a project? Then wondered: “What have I got myself into?” Read More »
I was walking home yesterday from the gym here in beloved Totnes in Devon. The fruit and veg wallah came out of his shop and called out to me: “Christopher, there’s an article in today’s paper about you with a photo of you in Afghanistan.”
Why did I walk straight into the news agents to buy the Devon newspaper?
I live in a small town. The other day I heard two people talking about me in the Barrel, my local coffee shop. I did not recognise the two people talking. I found my body starting to lean over in their direction to catch the words. If I lent much further, I would have toppled over!
Hearing the word “Christopher” from the other table became a distraction from my reading a remarkable and truly exceptional novel, “Alone in Berlin” by Hans Fallada, the German novelist who died in 1947. Incidentally, the novel focusses on the theme of protest and captures succinctly my whole view of human responsibility, no matter what the circumstances and apparent futility.
Why is their such interest in “I” “me” and “my?” Since we are so interested in our “self,” then surely we should go on retreat to know more about our self, participate in groups for self knowledge or meet one to one with a skilled psychotherapist.
Do the views of other people about ourselves matter more than our view? (the photo in Afghanistan was taken in 1967).
What is this deep interest in our “self?” Read More »
I attended this month for the sixth year at the kind invitation of Triratna, formerly known as the FWBO – Friends of the Western Buddhist Order – in its past life, the annual Buddhafield Festival, held near Taunton, 80 minutes up the railway line from Totnes in south Devon, England. Around 2500 adults and children attend the festival. …
Desire gets in the way of making love Read More »
I recall my teenage years working in the office of The Universe, a rather illustrious name for a Roman Catholic weekly newspaper in London’s Fleet Street – the home of the country’s major newspapers and news agencies at the time. Every few weeks, a formidable man in the Roman Catholic world, Douglas Woodruff, a director of the newspaper and editor of The Tablet, a serious journal reflecting Catholic thought, would visit the office. …
Douglas Woodruff. Dry humour behind the humourless exteriorRead More »
Douglas Woodruff. Dry humour behind the humourless exterior Read More »
My arrival in India got off to a slow start at New Delhi railway station on January 22, 2010. The Rajdhani Express from New Delhi to Gaya took 30 hours instead of 12 hours. I spent the night on the platform with my shawl as a mattress , a sleeping bag as a duvet and the edge of my small backpack (with laptop etc) as a pillow. …
Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, 2010 and two dramas Read More »
