The Innate Morality of Roald Dahl's Stories

Having read my son many Roald Dahl bedtime stories, I'm struck by their moral conviction. The children who are his heroes see that grown ups often proclaim a fake morality to get what they want, while the children themselves respond to a more natural moral order. People usually get what they deserve....................................

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Impermanence

"Behind this is the Buddhist teaching that everything we experience is impermanent. In Japanese culture, this inspired the tradition of wabi sabi, which means finding beauty in that which is imperfect, transient and incomplete. That's an alternative to the Greek ideal of beauty as a reflection of eternal forms, and you see it in Japanese art forms such as pottery and gardening. The roughness is as important as the finish..............."

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The Dawn of the Anthropocene

The Buddhist understanding of the human condition is that our habits, needs and beliefs drive us to
act in ways that we think will bring happiness. But we fail to see that these are partial and short-term solutions, often tinged by emotions like craving and fear................





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Wesak, Vishvapani Shares His Thoughts

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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....................................



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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".



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It's Been a Bad Week For South Wales

Vishvapani reflects on Buddhism's traditional focus on the individual and how this helps us to respond to wider social issues.



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Bowie, The Buddha and Impermanence

Here is Vishvapani's first talk of the new year in which he reminisces no his own youth and the place David Bowie and his music had in his own life and it's connection with the Buddha and his teachings.



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