These bikes are for children to learn to balance before they graduate to pedals to propel themselves forward. The bike rack is pretty nifty too!

Oh and just how much now is a balance needed before propelling ourselves forward into motion and action.

As beings currently struggle to gain their emotional footing the twins of fear and desire are behaving more like identical twins! Those seemingly inseparable emotions are entirely understandable. We call this being stuck in the opposites.

So pausing. Stopping for a heartbeat. Standing still for a moment as if to take in the view. Well yes. Taking in a wider view is good. Our inextricable interconnectedness needs us to do that constantly especially before peddling forwards into action.

Applause for a young man who decided not to take to the sky a few days ago.

I have been out walking in a couple of parks in North Norfolk these past days. The trees are skeletal in form with spring promises sprouting like fingernails. However, these trees speak of harder days; of winter winds lashing and frosty rains creeping into their fabric. Deep inside to compromise their structure. Many have, as you see in this photograph, multiple downed branches.

So, I’m out and getting about. Relaxing with fellow monastics and lay sangha. The world I meet is rich with sights and sounds, the air is soft with the approach of spring. I notice memories from previous visits to this county popping in and then out of my mind. The temptation to voice them and the wisdom to not do that juggle back and forth.

Memories are the past come into the present. It can irk to constantly recount the past yet also speaking of events held in common is affirming of long time contact. So I attempt to steer a middle path in conversations these days away and on return? The middle path, as ever with everything.

Silence is OK too.

The photo below is a detail of iron work at Hexham station, taken a couple of days ago. Faded and rusted yes but there is still ‘glory’ within our railway system. Me thinks

Just 5 minutes into my journey the train hit something on the line, we were stationary for 25 minutes. Announcements came ‘the train has run out of air’. We breath in, ‘no problem here!

And so, I arrive eventually at my destination about an hour later than expected. Along the way, kindness. Along the way, the trains arrived and departed. Along the way, we are safe. Kept safe. Is there something good here amongst the funkyness. Yes. And that’s glorious in a world gone slightly bonkers.

‘Be thankful for small mercies’. My mother would repeat. Quite often.

This is an edited version of a post from 2006 written when I was Prior of Edmonton Buddhist Priory, Edmonton Alberta Canada.

The popular view of organized religion, viewed with a questioning mind, appears to prescribe what one should and should not believe in. This was the way I saw things as a young woman and kept away from organized religions. Now I see this as, at best, an incomplete view. Looked at from the outside any religion appears prescriptive and heavy with doctrine, including Buddhism. And that is, to a certain extent, necessary. It is necessary to describe a ‘doorway’ so people can see it, recognize it as a valid one and then choose to walk through it, or not. One often hears that “all paths lead to the same Truth”. Maybe, maybe not! The important thing, if one is seeking a path, is to choose one and follow it unstintingly. (Unstintingly means ‘with generosity’, in this case, generosity of spirit  (Dana giving and letting go, unconditionally.)

I inherited my questioning nature from my father. He was a deeply spiritual person, who felt no need to be attached to a faith tradition although he’d say, if he were to be anything, he’d be a Buddhist. In his later years, when I’d become a priest, he spoke a few times of his inner life. Relating his evolving understanding into the nature of existence, that had begun as a young boy. He was matter of fact when he spoke of these profound matters, and they were profound. Throughout his life, he’d felt no need to label his experiences and there was not a sign of a person burdened by understanding. Some people blossom within a faith tradition and some, like my father, grow and flourish like a tree in a forest. Who is to say which is best?

In 1980 during our drive to Heathrow, on route to Shasta Abbey to become a monk, I felt the need to explain myself to my dad. “Err, I am going to be a monk to find out that I don’t need to be one”. It was half an apology to him and half an explanation for myself. At the time I knew nothing of his inner life only his attitude towards ‘organized religion’. He and my mother supported me in my decision as, in my early thirties, I was free to make my choices and they respected that. If my father were still alive I’d let him know, “I didn’t need to become a monk although I’m glad I did”. The practice has changed my life for the better.

Recently there have been a number of younger people who have received meditation instruction (at the Edmonton Priory, 2006) and have returned to meditate. One such person came this evening, another tree that has been growing in the forest, and doing just fine. I’m at once encouraged that such individuals have found the door and walked through and concerned that in some subtle way they will become hindered by the hope of, or desire for, a journey’s end. Paths, after all, imply they lead somewhere. Perhaps, like me, they will eventually realize they didn’t need to walk through this particular door and at the same time, be glad they did. Trees grow and flowers blossom within a Great Benevolence not bound by time or place. I hope and pray I’ll not get in their way as they shoot up past me.

Wowerrr! The video Never Too Late to Learn touched so many of you, and I am touched by so many people leaving comments both on Jade and on my Facebook page hounmugo if you haven’t found me there. There is much to respond to in the comments however I don’t have the time today.

The coronavirus has been front and centre in my attention. Not for anxiety or worry reasons, although I suspect there is a bit of that lurking inside me, more to do with helping people, lay guests/monks be and feel safe. As well as insure people cancel visits for all the good reasons one would do that in our efforts to slow down (contain) the spread of the virus.