tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5799319684830140352009-10-16T15:06:06.142+01:00paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-58127978363241449932009-06-17T07:37:00.003+01:002009-06-17T08:02:39.715+01:00

i'm in valencia for a week after having been at akashavana for the ordination period of the 3 month retreat where 17 women became dharmacharinis. they were from 6 different countries. the retreat is going very well and when we (the preceptors) left they were about to enter a silent phase of more intensive meditation. then they will have a period of 'order induction' and end their retreat with

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-43523688782301928412009-04-06T05:57:00.002+01:002009-04-06T06:03:24.365+01:00

hi alli'm back in the northern hemisphere. india was pretty amazing though challenging - particularly organising the convention. went really well though.loved sydney again and enjoyed the things i did there - talks, study day, order weekend, retreat. also visited new zealand for a long weekend where i went to an order weekend and also a meeting of some of the foks who are engaged in the work

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-23460913236639319082009-03-03T04:42:00.002Z2009-03-03T04:46:43.029Z

hi alli am in mumbai at prajnamata's flat en route to australia. sanghadevi and i travelled down from bodh gaya on a train with quite a few indian order members arriving last night after over 30 hours on the train.the convention was a great success as far as i could tell. all the feedback i received was pretty positive and i am delighted that we held it in india --in bodh gaya. we started

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-77612548456776548732009-02-10T17:11:00.002Z2009-02-10T17:27:54.810Z

hi and bye for now. i am in london en route to india.i got here on sunday and enjoyed spending time with dhammadinna.yesterday and today i've been doing study with the karuna team in north london. i've really enjoyed that, we studied a tsongkapa text.last night i went with karunagita to see the movie "milk". i thought it was excellent and sean penn's performance was brilliant. it was

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-17146328813812480112009-01-25T16:46:00.002Z2009-01-25T17:29:13.409Z

happy burns day. today is the 250th anniversary of the birth of robert burns and i'm feeling a wee bit homesick for scotland. as a kid i grew up on irish and scottish songs and poems. in my house we had irish rebel songs and we celebrated burns suppers on 25th january. strange brew but not that unusual in glasgow.we had burns celebrations at school and also in local community centres and, one

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-30572002198854178072009-01-20T22:34:00.002Z2009-01-20T23:08:57.784Z

couldn't let it go by without some comment. i watched the inauguration on the telly at tiratanaloka with the other women public preceptors and the tiratanaloka community. it was such an historic moment -- as obama himself said, he was standing in an area where 60 years ago his father would not have been served in a local restaurant and here he was delivering his inaugural speech as the 44th

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-32624043180750626052008-12-28T09:56:00.004Z2008-12-28T14:30:58.656Z

well, 2008 is coming to an end and 2009 is coming fast towards us. it's been quite a year for me personally, and quite a year on the national and international fronts. credit crunches, obama's election, celtic are currently 7 points ahead of rangers in the spl. all sorts of interesting things happening. but no time to comment on all that,personally, the first half of the year was difficult. i

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-68631020314292022102008-11-13T10:30:00.002Z2008-11-13T10:43:13.426Z

six moths have passed since the last time i wrote here. that is hard to believe. and, of course, it's hard to know how to update after such a long time.maybe i'll just start with the present. right now i am in london sitting in the gallery cafe in bethnal green having a coffee and logging on. am meeting someone for a coffee soon -- my friends juan carlos -- so won't write more now but soon...

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-3602393343990866202008-05-10T14:56:00.003+01:002008-05-10T15:02:31.419+01:00

i am on the isle of mull, one of the inner hebrides off the west coast of scotland. it is beautiful and i've been incredibly lucky with the weather. where i'm staying is the ferry port for ferries to iona. spent a day there a few days ago and had a great time. walked a fair bit round the island (it's small) and then meditated in the nunnery which unlike the more famous nearby abbey is a ruin.

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-29288511065797711692008-04-30T21:31:00.003+01:002008-04-30T21:38:23.840+01:00

i have mentioned a couple of times that i was deeply moved in australia to witness the "sorry" speech made by kevin rudd in february. i have been meaning to post a link to some articles about it and haven't done so. so, here it is. click on the header to go to a page from the sydney morning herald. the first video link (the day we said sorry) is a 4 minute report and really captures the spirit

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-51201682621614773552008-04-18T14:47:00.003+01:002008-04-18T14:51:04.737+01:00

for anyone interested in my last post, take a look at the closing speech by rob hopkins of the transition town initiative. click on the header of this post to take you to the speech. i was especially interested in his references to santideva's bodhicaryavatara

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-44805105656340152622008-04-09T16:52:00.002+01:002008-04-09T17:01:33.582+01:00

last weekend i met some people involved in the "transition town" initiatives -- sometimes known as energy descent initiative- in totness, bath and bristol. i had heard the term before and knew it had something to do with peak oil but i hadn't heard much about it nor met anyone involved in one of these transition towns. i think i had put it in a box in my mind which goes : "could be interesting

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-29872827456524066472008-03-24T12:27:00.002Z2008-03-24T12:41:35.820Z

i wrote this last week for shabda (the order reporting in monthly) and just thought i could post it here too.i am back in the northern hemisphere. i almost said the frozen north but actually spring is just starting to show. there are daffodils in the garden here at taraloka and in the lanes around here and a few brave buds are trying to push through. i came back from australia on friday last

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-76890593511246755592008-03-09T23:53:00.002Z2008-03-10T00:23:40.256Z

still in the land of oz. haven't been in the mood for writing - or when i have been i haven't had time. main thing i want to mention now is the trip i took to uluru and kata tjuta national park in mid australia. click on the title to link to the govt official web page. i took few photos there. it was truly awesome in the real sense of the word.i just wanted to experience it.imagine desert,

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-66855299238248078732008-01-19T20:10:00.000Z2008-01-19T20:17:51.817Z

well of course it's only down under if you are up there, so to speak.am in auckland just now where it is, of course, high summer which is very nice indeed. i have just finished leading a retreat for the australasian dharmacharinis on the lojong training. the 7 point mind training to be precise.there were 30 of us and it went really well.before that i led a week called healing self, healing world

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-49552909022828048542007-12-18T05:35:00.000Z2007-12-18T05:39:13.063Z

I am writing this in an internet cafe in Bankok on the last day of my holiday in Thailand. I am now a month into a round the world trip. Firstly, I spent two very inspiring weeks in India, mainly visiting TBMSG projects. It was a very short visit - and incidentally my first trip to India. I have written something about this already in my last post. I also visited many of our social projects

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-77045635700701969992007-12-09T13:15:00.000Z2007-12-13T03:27:27.599Z

hi all,i am in a very strange internet cafe in thailand. full of teenagers playing video games but hey, it's cheap. extremely cheap.so i had two weeks in india. not easy to get online while i was there so no blogging. internet connections were slow and frustrating and liable to cut out.i had a great time though demanading. in two weeks i gave 12 programmes (two more public, the rest ladies

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-16449375904061799812007-11-19T07:12:00.000Z2008-11-15T08:20:57.677Z

tomorrow at the crack of dawn i set off to india - the first stage in a round world trip. in india i will be visiting tbmsg activities and meeting folk. that's from 20th noveber till the 4th dec. i am excited about that. after that i am having a two week holiday in thailand. from the 20th december till the 23rd jan i will be in auckland, new zealand.23rd - 31st jan in wellington31st jan in

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-64383309292153627312007-11-17T15:22:00.000Z2008-11-15T08:20:57.938Z

at the end of september i went to a meeting of the bte (buddhist teachers of europe) with kamalasila and then i stayed on for the ebu (european buddhist union) agm. dhammarati reminded me the other day that i have to write something for him -- i went on his behalf. i haven't yet but it did remind me that i had put some photos on my web page so, click on the header to go to those. i really

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-50300588384953112192007-10-11T19:52:00.000+01:002007-10-11T19:55:52.475+01:00

i think this is a great idea - a global film day of documentaries and images that could change the world. the link (click on pangea day) will take you to a youTube clip which i found really moving. it needs half an hour of your time but it's well worth it. go look

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-25677605288810659172007-10-09T16:02:00.000+01:002007-10-09T16:06:06.892+01:00

this is interesting. participate in raising awareness round environmental issues. click on the look at this at the top of this entry and look at blog action day. and maybe join in!!

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-6722427006420742442007-09-30T23:52:00.000+01:002007-10-01T00:05:14.708+01:00

in october i will be leading a retreat at dhanakosa called inner peace, outer peace. follow the link by clicking on the header above to get to their web-page with blurb. there are still places if anyone is interested. i have just written something for their newsletter - based on some questions nayaka asked me. thought i's reproduce it here as it is not just about the retreat but says a bit more

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-20981542666583837312007-09-21T13:33:00.000+01:002007-09-21T13:51:34.565+01:00

we have had quite the social whirl here at taraloka recently. first of all we went to see a fantastic dance company called sampad performing a piece called motherland. (click the "hectic social whirl" header above to see their web page.) it was a really moving piece. according to their web:Vibrant dance, live music and lyrical poetry come together to create Motherland - a compelling story of

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-32836313649898654822007-09-07T10:05:00.000+01:002007-09-07T16:38:15.600+01:00

on my birthday i was in london and dhammadinna and i went to the vegan festival in kensington. i really enjoyed it and i treated myself to a pair of jinga shoes. they are great, really comfortable and totally ethical. from brazil and help projects there. (well, there are airmiles i know). anyway, have a look at their website by clicking on the header to this post. i love themalso if you click

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-579931968483014035.post-76674658562783666362007-08-04T19:42:00.000+01:002008-11-15T08:20:58.463Z

last weekend i went down to london for vimalachitta and nagabodhi's wedding. i had a great time. on friday afternoon we had a little, intimate ceremony at the east london buddhist centre in bethnal green. i was pleased to be the celebrant and it was very simple and beautiful. afterwards we had cake and coffee in the wild cherry restaurant.then on saturday there was the civil wedding at hackney

paramihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06690065556904096547noreply@blogger.com0