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Tag Archives: meditation
The Cards Have Been Shuffled
As you may know, I have elected to undergo a radical prostatectomy operation for my cancer. It’s wasn’t easy, but I came to terms with the decision and all seemed settled. However, the Dealer who gave me my hand of … Continue reading
Posted in Age, blindness, Death, Health
Tagged blindness, Cancer, death, decisions, health, hormone treatment, meditation, Multiple Sclerosis, Prostate cancer, radiotherapy
5 Comments
Living Life to the Full
The reactions of friends and acquaintances to the news of my diagnosis have been many and varied, but none of them have been unwelcome, even the ones that completely ignore the information and carry on exactly as before. This reaction … Continue reading
Posted in Age, buddhism, Death, Health, Philosophy
Tagged bucket list, buddhism, death, health, M S, meditation, Multiple Sclerosis, self-help, spirituality
3 Comments
A New List
Being a man, I am an inveterate producer of lists. Here is what I constructed on my walk this morning in drizzly rain. Things I am interested in: This list seems to get shorter as the years pass. Things … Continue reading
Softness
Following a conversation with a friend, I thought I would set down some thoughts about softness. These thoughts will no doubt be influenced by the thinking I have done while on my spring retreat, from which I’ve just returned. Hard … Continue reading
Posted in Age, buddhism, Gender
Tagged buddhism, Crosby, Gender, meditation, spirituality, Spring, thinking
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Heaven or Hell?
“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven..” John Milton A reader of this blog wrote to me recently, to express her feeling that my description of a … Continue reading
Posted in buddhism, Politics, Wisdom
Tagged buddhism, challenge, meditation, rettreats, Silence, spirituality, suummits, thinking, Zen Buddhism
1 Comment
What Is This?
I’ve just got back from my six-monthly, week long, Zen Buddhist retreat at Crosby Hall, in west Lancashire. As always with the autumn retreat, I have come home with a cold. Forty people sitting together for eight hours a day … Continue reading
Posted in buddhism, Nature, Philosophy
Tagged buddhism, Crosby Hall, meditation, nature, Retreats, Silence, spirituality, Zen Buddhism
1 Comment
A Blind Man in the Land of Zen in Colour
Here are the original colour photographs that were published in black and white in my book A Blind Man in the Land of ZenI.
Posted in Arts, Books, Photographs, Uncategorized
Tagged blindness, books, buddhism, meditation, photography, spirituality
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The Case Against Reality
Ever since I was a teenager in an English midlands city, I have been aware of the feeling that I was somehow missing something rather important about reality. Nothing else could explain why, unlike everyone else, I didn’t want to … Continue reading
Posted in buddhism, Philosophy, Science
Tagged buddhism, evolution, meditation, mysticism, Philosophy, reality, sensory perception, Silence, thinking
1 Comment
Re-entry and Splashdown
Well . . . what do I write about, having just returned from a week’s retreat at Crosby Hall with the Liverpool Stonewater Zen Sangha? For that week the world changed quite utterly, both inside and outside my head. The … Continue reading
Posted in buddhism, Health
Tagged buddhism, Crosby, meditation, Retreats, spirituality, thinking, zen
4 Comments
The Heart of the Matter
This morning, everywhere is full of rain again. Unsurprisingly, I am procrastinating about taking Ruby for a walk. It’s that kind of rain. Guilt-rain. We have had some lovely days, as well, when I would get back from my walk … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging, Nature, Philosophy, Yorkshire
Tagged buddhism, countryside, Marsden, meditation, nature, photography, spirituality
3 Comments