Note - Latest Vishvapani Talks Now Available

The latest "Thought for the Day" talks by Vishvapani are now available in our Audio Section.

"Education"

The Buddhist ethical precepts telling people to avoid killing, lying and so on, are described as ‘training principles’ that invite us to adopt the underlying attitude the rule expresses...................................


"Shakespeare and the Buddha"

"For me, Shakespeare is more than a poet or a playwright. Of course, he isn’t a teacher as the Buddha is. But I see them both, in different ways, as heroes of consciousness who offer new ways of seeing and open up new ways of being".

Note - Latest Vishvapani Talk Now Available

The latest "Thought for the Day" talk by Vishvapani on the "Good Children Report" is now available in our Audio Section.

Note - New Video

I've just posted a fascinating short video in our Video section entitled, "What if the Homeless Gave You Money?"

The premise of the piece is to see how people feel about themselves when someone who is classified as "lesser" than them on the social scale offers them money."

The differing reactions are revealing.

Note - Latest Vishvapani Talk Now Available

The latest "Thought for the Day" talk by Vishvapani on Buddhist compassion is now available in our Audio Section.

Note - Unseen Features

Just a quick note to all of you who follow us by email.

Although your email notifications contain all the text and pictures in a posting they DO NOT show any Video or embedded Audio items, as in the last post "Belgium Boy Allowed to Leave to Become Monk" or "Dalai Lama Speaks of Chinese Poison Plot".

If a post seems like it ought to have a bit more or is a bit short - check it out on the website, West Wight Shanga and enjoy the full Audio/Visual experience. Not to mention all the great stuff in our Video and Audio sections..........  it's what the Web's for.

Note - New Audio Talks

We've recently had a number of new talks added to our Audio Section. Firstly, a couple of weeks ago we had a new "Tought for the Day" by the Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks. In it he talks of the impact of "cyber bullying" and goes on to discuss the importance of "Wise Speech".

Next, we had a talk by Vishvapani in which he discusses the value of democracy in the light of the conflict in Egypt and Syria. "Democracy forces us to debate with people with whom we disagree........ and prehaps to listen to them".

That was followed the very next day by a piece by Hardeep Singh Kohli which was transmitted live from the Edinburgh Festival on Saturday. Hardeep speaks of our divisions and how we can come together sharing food as in the Sikh practise of Langar.

In between all of this we added an excellent talk, "Your Best Brain" by Rick Hanson, to our Miscellaneous page within the Audio Section. Rick is a neuropsychologist and is an authority on self-directed neuroplasticity.

Note - Reposting, "The Nuns of Drapchi Prison"

Looking back over previous postings I came across one from 2008 about the Nuns of Drapchi Prison. I am now able to add an embedded audio player to this item and so have updated the post and put it onto our Miscellaneous Audio Page.

In 1993, a group of Tibetan nuns, in the notorious Drapchi prison in Lhasa, secretly recorded songs of freedom. Against all odds, the recordings were smuggled out of prison and the songs were heard by the outside world.

Note - Calendar Changes

For those of you following event dates on our Island Buddhist Calendar page, our Autumn Retreat Day has been rescheduled to the 14th of October. This is because there is a trip to Cittaviveka, the Buddhist Monastery at Chithurst, on Sunday the 21st of October, the original date for the retreat.

Note - Change to Site Appearance

I've noticed that most visitors are now viewing in wide screen so I've adjusted the width of our site accordingly, any problems please comment.

Note - Buddhist Meditation by Martine Batchelor

I've just put a video of Martine Batchelor teaching meditation practice onto our Video - Meditation section. There are three clips to be viewed consecutively (typical YouTube!), the nice bit is that the breaks coincide with Martine having a short tea break!

If you don't use the link above, the talks can be found immediately below the series on the The Divine Abodes by Tara Brach.

Note - New "Thought for the Day" Talks by Vishvapani

There are two new "Thought for the Day" talks by Vishvapani now posted on our Audio Section.

Note - New Videos, on the Brahma Viharas

I have just posted an excellent series of video talks by Tara Brach to our Video - Meditation section. These talks are on the Brahma Viharas or the Four Divine Abodes.

I've placed them immediately below the series Introduction to Insight meditation by Rodney Smith.

Note - New Dharma Talk

Following on from our previous post A "Local" Poem that I Like where we made the connection between the Buddhist concept of Impermanence and Tennyson's poem, "All Things will Die" the latest talk shared with the Newport Soto Zen group was Rebecca Bradshaw's talk on Anicca, Impermanence in which she discusses how a deep understanding of impermanence is a pathway into freedom.

Note: Latest Audio Talk

Our latest audio talk to be shared with the Newport Soto Zen group is "Understanding Sankhara" by Tempel Smith.

Tempel Smith teaches Mindfulness, Insight and Metta meditation with an emphasis on Buddhist psychology and mind-body awareness. He spent a year as a monk in Burma with Sayadaw U Pandita and Pa Auk Sayadaw, and he has completed the four year teacher-training program run by Spirit Rock and Insight Meditation Society.

New Thought for the Day

Every now and then we include a non-Buddhist speaker on our "Thought for the Day" page.
This moving piece is by the Rev. Lucy Winkett, Rector of St James’s Piccadilly, and is about the horrific killing of Yue Yue, the little Chinese girl run over twice in the street and ignored by passers-by. Since this was broadcast Yue Yue has died.

CCTV footage of little Yue Yue lying horrifically injured as people stepped around her in the road caused outrage around the world and sparked a fierce debate about morality in China.

Thousands of pounds have been donated to her family to help pay for treatment but Yue Yue died on Friday of brain and organ failure.

A hospital official said: “Her injuries were too severe and the treatment had no effect.”

Her tearful mother, Qu Feifei described how she had told her daughter: “Don’t give up on mum. Mum is not giving up. Let mum have one more chance to love and spoil you.”

Yue Yue was hit by a van driver who failed to stop in a street in the southern Guandong province city of Foshan.

The footage shows 18 people walk or drive by before another van runs over her seven minutes later.

A scavenger finally came to her aid, took her to hospital and found her parents.

Note: Latest Talk by Vishvapani

The latest "Thought for the Day" by Vishvapani is now available on our Audio Section.

Note

I have just added a link to "THE BUDDHA AND HIS DHAMMA", by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar onto our "Study Tools" on our "Dharma Studies" page. This is taken from Columbia University's South Asia study resources compiled by Prof. Frances Pritchett.

Note

I have posted a fascinating edition of "In Our Time" with Melvin Bragg which discusses the relationship of Shintoism and Buddhism. You can find it on the Miscellaneous page of our Audio Section.

Note

The latest Dharma talk taken to the Newport Zen group, Awaken Your Unborn Buddha Mind by Edward Espe Brown, has been uploaded to our Audio Section.

Note

I've recently posted this cartoon onto our Video section. It's called "A Christian and a Buddhist Walk Into a Cartoon."

It's a brilliant synopsis of the Buddha's teachings.