Dharma Library

In the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, Mara reminds the Buddha, now approaching death, of his earlier words: ‘I shall not come to my final passing away, Evil One, until my bhikkhus and bhikkhunis, laymen and laywomen, have come to be true disciples – wise, well disciplined, apt and learned, preservers of the Dhamma …’ ¹ The role of each element of this Fourfold Assembly in preserving and propagating the…

In this book George Marsh, one-time editor of this journal, presents a collection of haibun. Those familiar with the muse and process of haiku and haibun will know, however, that you do not collect them, they collect you. So here we have the assembled work of someone that has been collected through the experiences and activities of his life including those of a Buddhist practitioner.

For readers…

When I was asked several years ago to write a personal perspective on my career as a doctor in relation to right livelihood, I thought it would be easy. It is a huge privilege to work as a doctor with a livelihood dedicated to alleviating the effects of illness – we try and help people when they are vulnerable and are often admitted to their most private life events. The most useful advice I…

Planting a great oak at Shawbottom
and returning each year to say, “I did that”,
that would be something.
The sapling trees were ready in pots,
the spade resting against the shed.

I could only claim a short-lived success
weeding between the paving slabs.
About his many enlightenment experiences
Sawaki Roshi once said,
“they didn’t amount to a whole hill of beans”.

In my secret koan, ‘Tokusan’s Bowls’,
eg…

The fresh crisp morning air assails my senses as I quietly close the kitchen door behind me. The gravel crunches under my feet, yet all is silent.

I turn the corner of the street and the south-west wind rushes across my face.

I hear the sea before I see the sea, for all is still dark at this early hour.

The smell of wet briny beach is strong as I descend the steps to the beachside path and turn…

Sian: I have been very lucky to have a Dharma buddy (kalyana mitta) for quite a few years and then more recently to acquire two more buddies! The relationship with each of them is different, and they bring different aspects of my practice and life to the light, so it has been wonderful to have each of them. With my first buddy we were quite organised in how we worked together at first, each taking…

the guest house by rumi 

This being human is a guest house. 

Every morning a new arrival. 

A joy, a depression, a meanness, 

some momentary awareness comes 

as an unexpected visitor… 

Welcome and entertain them all! 

Be grateful for whoever comes, 

because each has been sent as a 

guide from beyond. 

Communicating in a group via the Internet during a viral pandemic has been an…

Caves are significant features in the sacred geography of the Himalaya. They are often in dramatic locations and form part of a larger mandalic landscape of mountains, lakes, valleys and rivers. Traditionally they are the preferred abode of those seeking contemplative isolation and many are alleged to have been inhabited by renowned tantric adepts such as Padmasambhava or the famous Tibetan yogi…

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know. 

– Donald Rumsfeld. Former US Defence Secretary 2002 

I’m thinking about knowing and not knowing. 

It's important to know things, isn’t it. Things like how to drive…

To write about a place which has made such a profound impact on my life, and to do so concisely and effectively, feels like quite a challenge; but one which I feel I must take on – both for myself and as an offering to the community of fellow members, with whom I have shared so many precious hours and days: times which contained the broadest possible range of human emotions – some of which I had…