Within the first six months of my coming across Buddhism, I had bought about two dozen Buddha-rupas, Kwan-yins, joss sticks, and enough books to open a library that would rival the one at Eccleston Square. Then I realised that there was more to it than that. I had to do something as well…
Human beings are good-hearted. We want to be good. We feel a lot of joy when opportunities for generosity or selfless action are made available to us. You can see that the love of the good, of the true and the beautiful, is very much part of our humanity…
I hope you’ll agree this is a pretty evocative photo of a Bamiyan Buddha and a great old Wolseley tourer…
Thinking is always about something. It is an attempt to categorise. What we experience is seen in the light of past experience. What we have experienced in the past is filtered through the way we look at things, our dispositions (sankhara). That is why thought will not allow us to see things anew. If we want to experience things as they really are, then thought about those things must come to an end. When thinking stops, we must be right there with what is happening…
Short film by documentary film maker Brent Huffman. Buddhist archaeological site of Mes Aynak in eastern Afghanistan in June 2011, artefacts, monasteries and more than 200 statues of Buddha…
Historically, the Japanese have considered women to be the proper interpreters of the teaching of the gods. In fact, the first spiritual and political leader of Japan on record was Himiko (or Pimiko), a queen whose authority was based on her religious or magical powers. She was a Shaman who the Chinese chronicles describe as unmarried with a thousand women attendants and one man, and who spent her time with magic and sorcery. She was a mediator between the people and their gods…
Green tea is chosen over other beverages because of its subtlety. In order to fully appreciate it the mind must be quiet and empty of distracting thoughts. If you talk while drinking, it is likely that you will miss the fullness of the taste. And as the ability to appreciate the subtle taste develops over the years, the person changes accordingly…
Scenes of Tibetan terrain, travel facilities, housing, a New Year religious festival, the Dalai Lama’s palaces in Lhasa, monasteries and other religious buildings. 40 minutes.
Buddhism now 