Hi everyone,
Today I want to talk a little about one of the central and most important teachings of Buddhism, and I want to share some important news with you.
After many long conversations, Satya and I will be moving out of the Bright Earth Buddhist Temple later this year and handing over the leadership roles to others in the community.
Satya has written beautifully in her own newsletter about her personal process leading up to this decision.
News like this can be jangling to our systems. Even consciously knowing the truth of impermanence, we can fall into taking refuge in the way things are. It’s very human to want things to stay the same. Some people are pretty good at rolling with changes. I am not one of those people. And yet every moment like this – as jangling as it is – is also an opportunity to take refuge in the much vaster and more compassionate vision of the world that Buddhism offers.
Satya and I will continue to be involved in lots of ways. We’re still working out the exact details of the handover with the Ministry Team and the Trustees but we all have confidence in this process. We’ll let you know more details as they emerge.
Satya and I will continue to run the Ministry training programme, offer teachings in person and through this newsletter, and we’ll keep showing up and leading some events and practice at the temple, although not quite as often as we do now.
I’m looking forward to seeing what develops here in the future.
All things are subject to decay. This is a central pillar of Buddhism. It can sound a bit hopeless taken on its own like that: everything I love and enjoy will fade away!
But impermanence seen through the Buddha’s eyes is not at all hopeless. Decay is not just fading away but also making room for creativity and growth. Leaves that fall from trees in autumn become food for thousands of invisible bugs that live in the virtually undiscovered eco-system of the soil. That soil in turn feeds plants, and those plants feed us and the cycle continues.
On the grand scale of geology, and on the micro-scale of atoms the only constant is change. When I look at a photograph of myself forty years ago the changes are obvious. I was a child then! When I look at a photograph from forty seconds ago the changes are more subtle but still present.
Deeply understanding impermanence is not only an invitation into seeing an ecological view of the universe. The more closely we come to understand the rising and falling of everything around us, the more clearly we can notice the constant presence of the Buddha alongside and throughout all of this.
Some would say the rising and falling is the constant presence of the Buddha. And what is the Buddha? It is love and wisdom. It is the clear seeing of that rising and falling, and it is how we are moved to love each thing that rises and falls. It is the love that each rising and falling thing expresses in its completeness.
As an ordinary human being, even though I have faith that the Buddha is present everywhere, it’s often easier for me to notice that at the temple than in other places. There is a decade-long history of people practicing together here, of listening to the teachings and tuning into the Buddha, and I know that will continue to be true in the future. Some things will change of course, how could they not - in this world of impermanence! But the spirit will remain the same and I’m looking forward to witnessing the next chapter unfolding in the life of the temple.
Namo Amida Bu,
Kaspa
Thanks Kaspa - beautiful teaching. Here's to a bright future for Bright Earth! 🌏
Beautiful! NAB.X