lotusinthemud

The Bodhi Retreat

Here are details of the Amida Bodhi Retreat at the beginning of December

Blessed by the Truth

 From the time there appears in this world one
who has seen the truth, a fully awakened one,
blessed by the truth, abounding in happiness,
a teacher of wisdom and goodness, a buddha.
He, by himself, thoroughly knows and sees this
universe, and knowing it, makes his knowledge
known to others. The truth, lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress, lovely in its consummation,
he proclaims. A new life he makes known, in all
its fullness.

-Tevigga Sutta

Ministry Training at The Buddhist House

The new Amida Ministry training programme is very enthusiastic and energetic. It's great to be engaging with this group.
link for details

Time to fall

Time to fall
Is time to float
  - for a lotus blossom

~ Haiku by Inagaki
Thanks to Dharmavidya

The greatest disease today....

" The greatest disease today is not leprosy or
tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being
unwanted, uncared for and deserted by everybody "
                                 
~ Mother Teresa

The (Really Scary) Soldier of the Future

Thanks to Nano technology, he'll be a Lethal Superman who can Heal Himself

By Alan H. Goldstein, Salon, October 20, 2005
Vast government contracts have corrupted the American university system,
turning off the fountainhead of unfettered ideas and scientific discovery.
Multibillion-dollar federal R&D budgets have replaced the solitary inventor
with veritable armies of scientists and engineers in laboratories across the
country. Public policy itself has become the captive of a
scientific-technological elite.

2005? Try 1961. The paragraph above was taken with only minor changes from
President Dwight Eisenhower's famous farewell address.

Things have only gotten worse in 44 years.
More here: link

No religion teaches people to kill

Such sad news - A monk and temple boys murdered in Thailand. A senseless waste of life. Sorrow for both victims and perpetrators.

From Zen under the skin

Newcastle rain, Cambodian adventure

After a walk round Gosforth in the teaming rain I'm glad to back home, clothes steaming, while I read Dr Jo's Adventures (friend from the uni, whom I first met several years ago at silk painting evening class). She's just arrived in Cambodia, where she's working with VSO

Can Purity Survive in an Impure Society?

From 'Questions in the Sand'

QUESTION: Is society a group of individuals joined together because of their belief in self and work in self-strenghtening? Is society, as a natural consequence of that self-preoccupation, immoral and impure? if the entire society structure is immoral, where is the place of a moral and pure individual in such society? Is the adjustment to and being a part of such society immoral and impure? How is it possible to be pure and to remain a part of society? Or is it that a pure individual cannot be a part of society

link to Dharmavidya's answer

The Buddhist Journey

The Buddhist journey is a journey from beginning to end
in which the end is also the beginning....It is an ongoing
journey [in a vehicle] without reverse and without brakes.
It is an ongoing process. Beginning this journey is committing
yourself to a particular karmic flow, a karmic chain reaction.
It is like being born. When you are born, nobody can say,
"That was just a rehearsal" and take the whole thing back.