Reflection on Dawn at Swayambhu Stupa There are places that remain with us long after we have left them. For me, dawn at Swayambhu Stupa is one of those places. The sound of monks chanting, the steady rhythm of temple drums, the fragrance of incense and the first light spreading across the Kathmandu Valley combine Read More
Tag: Buddhist poetry
A Life Fully Lived
Autumn seemed to arrive early that year. Annual flowers had died, birds had begun migrating and leaves were already falling. During one of my walks I noticed a single fallen leaf. There was nothing damaged or incomplete about it. Quite the opposite. Haiku The leaf lies fallen,Perfect in form and colour,A life fully lived (Written Read More
How Mindful Walking Led Me to Haiku
Mindful Walking and Haiku I began writing short poems in the Japanese tradition of haiku during the Covid years, when I was recovering from prostate cancer. It was a difficult period of my life, but also a strangely reflective one. Perhaps age had something to do with it. Perhaps illness did too. I found myself Read More
Impermanence in Nature | What Can a Harvested Field Teach Us?
Reflection on Impermanence In Nature The midday heat shimmers above the empty fields, the combine having left only golden stubble behind. I walk across the harvested land, breathing in the dry smell of earth. Last spring my feet sank into soft mud here; now the ground is hard beneath them. The crops have come and Read More
Stillness Haiku | The Pebble-Walking Meditation
Reflection On Walking Meditation During one of my early morning walking meditation sessions around the fields of the Cotswolds, I found myself reflecting on the Mental Discipline section of the Noble Eightfold Path. The image that came to mind was a still pond. When the surface of the water is calm, even the smallest pebble Read More