Gareth and Sudhana did a valiant job helping me to move furniture today. The removal from my old room in The Buddhist House up to Number Four is taking longer than I expected. However, the old room is finally beginning to look somewhat bare. Zen the cat carries on occupying the armchair even though all around him chaos reins. It is pretty much chaos at the other end too at the moment. Will have a big sorting out job to do when I get a moment.
A week ago Zen came home with his belly all cut open. We imagine he must have done it on barbed wire. We took him to the vet and got it all stitched up but Zen, being Zen, burst his stitches by being too boistrous so we had to have him restitched which was not much fun. Now he is confined to the rabbit cage - which is a bit of a come down for a cat like Zen, and has to wear a plastic collar to stop him pulling his stitches out. He's not too pleased about it but we are determined that he must heal up properly this time. We have put his cage in my room so that he is not lonely.
The kits had an intense morning's education, getting to grips with this language business, popping bubblewrap and, suddenly, meeting squirrel for the first time. They were getting totally over-excited, so I took them for one further adventure: their first encounter with OUTSIDE which they took step by step. After a bit of exploration they came back in with lots to dream about. Willemien's pet is much easier to manage.
Jodo and Zen had their usual dynamic morning but settled down on my lap together eventually. Here's a pic of Moggi in the garden and another of Zen
This morning we got most of the Running Tide mailing to the post office. Copies will be now speeding their way across the world describing Modgala, Cathy and Joy's exploits in India, Amrita in Sri Lanka, Sujatin, Mike, Gina and others in different parts of UK, Amida's involvement in the European Buddhist Union, achievements and plans, courses and retreats, this summer in France, next year's conference and everything else that's currently going on. My Dharma Talk on page 3 is called "Love, Wise and Foolish".
In the afternoon, Willemien and I went shopping. She got some shoes and I got a hat.
This evening I have done a little writing. I am on chapter seven of a new book and at the moment I am pondering the current (and recurrent) fashion for wholeness, oneness, interrelatedness and holism generally and asking whether it is not a complete dead end philosophically - a question for which I shall no doubt be thoroughly unpopular.
My son Mike came by today. He has been in South America, visiting Inca ruins, riding horses, and negotiating with llamas. He evidently had a good time in Equador and Peru. I have also been able to chat with Madrakara in London as he has got onto Hello. He sent me a pic of himself with Ken Livingstone taken as a result of having been project manager for Transport for London's Five Year Plan. He has a great enthousiasm for his work.
It is a dull day here in Narborough today, but the magnolias make such a difference.
The kits have been to the vet today for their first innoculations. They had to be bagged first, and afterwards they needed a serious nap.
This is Jodo's first attempt at wordprocessing - while I was out of the room:
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All her own work - pretty good for 10 weeks old!
Tony, one of our trustees, called by this morning. Yaakov, Tony and I had breakfast together. Conversation roamed over Buber, how he was influenced by Eastern philosophy, but rejected its solipsism, the need for Buddhism to represent a middle ground that does not fall into the extremes of inter-being on one side or solipsism on the other, but preserves a respect for genuine existential encounter with what is other, the merits of Iris Murdoch's excellent book, Sovereignty of the Good, Platonism and Pureland Buddhism, the plans and themes for the nextLiving Buddhism Conference, interfaith relations, psychoanalysis and inter-subjectivity, the relationship between social micro-structures and the support for and expression of love, the woundedness that results from "normal" life in modern society where established relations are constantly being ruptured for economic and other reasons, and several other fruitful subjects. It was a lovely conversation. I was very touched by two particular compliments: Yaakov: "I have learnt more about faith here than in many years in synagogue" and Tony: "People ask me why if I am Buddhist I have not been to the East and I say I don't need to go to the East - I go to Narborough." By this point we all had tears in our eyes. There are few things as fine as good conversation between true friends.
The Easter Retreat has a good feel. I love the nembutsu chanting. When we chant vigorously, the Buddha comes to life and communicates with me. I come out transported and tingling. This afternoon we had a seminar, which focused mostly on the nembutsu practice - its shamanic aspect, its role as a transformative practice and as an axpressive one, different people having different approaches, the role of samadhi concentration and its relation to trance.
The kits are in disgrace today. Shari has done a full inspection of the damage. During our brekfast conversation they were in continuous frenzy, burning calories at a phenomenal rate. By lunchtime they had crashed out, one asleep on either side of the throw over my chair. By this evening, however, they were on the go again. When I came back from the seminar my papers were all over the floor and my computer keyboard was off the desk hanging by its flex. Loveables.
It is a wet day here in Narborough. We are preparing to receive guests coming for the Easter Retreat. I have spent much of the morning fathoming the mysteries of Typepad. Tuesday is the day when Laura and Gina come in and help out, but each have phoned to say they are sick and not coming in today. So, it's cold, wet, and people are going down sick. I hope they get better soon. And I hope Prasada has arrived safe and sound in Florida.
Our two new kittens, Zen and Jodo, are settling in quite well. They have made their nest on the dining chairs under my table where the overhang of the table cloth hides them. Shari and Moggi, our adult cats, are giving them a wide bearth. There is a slight gap in the rain at the moment and from my window I can see Moggi prowling the lower garden.
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