Reflection On Mindfulness and Distractions The first of my three seats is beside the largest lake on my morning walking route. It is not particularly peaceful in the conventional sense. There is almost always something happening: trees rustling, leaves falling, birds calling, water birds squawking, coots diving and ripples spreading across the surface. Sometimes a Read More
Tag: Buddhist poetry
Stillness Haiku | Buddhism and Ageing
Reflection on Buddhism and Ageing As a child I remember wishing time away. School holidays seemed endless, birthdays took forever to arrive and adulthood felt impossibly distant. Now the years seem to pass with astonishing speed. Yet instead of resisting that change, my Buddhist practice has gradually helped me accept it. Impermanence is no longer Read More
Stillness Haiku| Mindfulness in Nature
Mindfulness in nature can be observed as well as experienced. Try watching a heron standing like a statue, a hawk hovering above a prey, a nervous deer in long grass.
Stillness Haiku| Impermanence
Reflection One of the simplest objects in my meditation room is a single candle. Yet its flame reminds me of one of the deepest teachings in Buddhism: impermanence. The flame appears constant, but in reality it is changing from moment to moment, just as our thoughts, feelings and bodies are constantly changing. Sitting quietly before Read More
Stillness Haiku| Thinking no Thinking
Haiku ”Silently sitting,listening to the new dawn—thinking no thinking.” From "Stillness | Moments of Buddhist Practice in Verse" written February 2022 Reflection Some poems explain an experience. Others simply point towards it. I wrote this many years ago and, interestingly, left no journal entry explaining what inspired it. Looking back, I suspect I had been Read More