Silence

Yesterday it started snowing again here in the Spanish Pyrenees. I always get excited when I discover it has been snowing during the night. In the fresh snow you can see tracks of animals that have been visiting the area while the humans were sleeping. On the slope near the kitchen I discovered many, many [...]

A lot has happened since I last wrote on this blog. After we’d spent three months on retreat in the Spanish Pyrenees, we decided we wanted to live there permanently. The community we wanted to start in South-West England wasn’t very likely to happen soon and we urgently needed a place to settle down which [...]

I feel a bit embarrassed about this blog being so very very quiet, but it cannot be helped. I’ll be on retreat in Spain till 22 March, so I will not be in a position to write about what’s going on. The plans for the bigger community are still very much alive. We’ve had a [...]

The season is drawing to an end. Leaves are beginning to turn orange, red and yellow. Hopefully the end of the season will mean that more energy will be available for developing an Eco-Dharma Community in Devon. The core of people wanting to participate in this project work in Buddhafield, although a lot of people [...]

I was amazed when I saw the time stamp under my last entry, which was end April. I wonder what I have been doing in the past six weeks. They have been full indeed. I have been traveling a lot within the UK. I’ve been to two retreats and an order weekend. Last weekend I [...]

Between coming back and going away, I’ve found a day with space and rest and hours of blissfully being alone. I love the company of people, but I also really enjoy being on my own. The balance between the two will be something to work with now that I have just moved into the Buddhafield [...]

I am packing and sorting my stuff. In the background the biggest deadline of the year is breathing softly in my neck. I didn’t think I would be here again, but there: it has happened. Similar to last year I am facing two parallel deadlines. Last year it was my second book, about Buddhism in [...]

On my way from the south I’ve made a stop in Birmingham and will be flying back to Amsterdam tomorrow. I am writing this blog entry in the guest room of one of the Buddhist communities in Moseley. I’ve been meeting up with lots of friendly people today. Brummies are kind people, I am told, [...]

Since a few months I am a Skype user. I know I am pretty late, but that had to do with being a Mac user as well and a relatively poor one too. A few months ago Skype introduced video, so if both parties have web cams you can see each other while you’re talking. [...]

I’m just back from the supermarket here in Amsterdam and I am totally amazed. A sign in the supermarket said that it was open on Sunday, on X-mas day and even on Boxing Day as well. When I wanted to cross the street there were lots of people trying to do the same thing, carrying [...]