Dharma Reflections

The great passion of life manifests itself in movement. We express ourselves in a silent and intimate way with the nature through walking, not with a specific destination in mind, rather, the sacred engagement in the act itself. We formed a long single line with 120 of us participating collectively in a step-by-step activity beneath the immense umbrella of the sky above and the rolling, winding pathways, as we guided ourselves among the hills of the Pyrenees earlier this month. …

I had a telephone call from a friend, Alan, who spent around 33 years in prison as a guest of Her Majesty’s’ Government for allegedly killing his gay partner in a flat in Victoria, London in 1973. He might have got an early release, perhaps even after 10 years, but he regularly harassed the authorities on various issues making himself somewhat unpopular with the prison authorities and the Home Office. A year or so ago, the Home Office gave him parole and he now lives in a small flat in south London. …

It seems to me that all institutional explanations, no mater how well reasoned out and no matter how many subscribe to the view, have their shadows. Heavy shadows. Darwinism is no exception even as scientists claim an ongoing pursuit of truth. It would be healthy to take seriously the wise counsel of the Buddha who said that “one preserves truth by stating ‘this is my view.’” (Middle Length Discourses).

Scientists, economists, politicians, business community and citizens, are left with Charles Darwin’s shadow, namely a belief in competition, progress, survival, priority of self interest, and the Western mind as the pinnacle of evolution. Our schoolchildren are brainwashed into these views.

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God is Dead. Darwinism is GodRead More »

Someone told me that I have joined the masses of names on Wikipaedia, the online encyclopaedia. Despite all the years of exploration and teaching of ‘non-self,’ I still find a certain interest in the name Christopher Titmuss. I looked at ‘my’ name on Wikipaedia. I smiled in its description of me as a Theravada tutor. I am not even a Buddhist let alone a Theravada teacher. I am a small servant of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. When I have nothing else to do, I will make one or two modest changes in the text – for the sake of accuracy. I look slightly mad in the photo taken while in full flow in giving a teaching at the Buddhafield Festival. Who am I to dispute appearances? …

Theravada and TantraRead More »

The fixing of a spiritual truth in terms of a location ranks as somewhat incongruous. We already have the tendency to locate truth within or without – within ourselves or within another. It is a foolish way of looking. It might be even more unwise to speak of priority in direction in terms of spiritual truth and the nation state. Having written that, I would suggest that two trends are evolving for serious spiritual practitioners, whether teachers, seniors in the Dharma or curious beginners. …

What direction? India or the USA?Read More »