Category: mindfulness

Staying Motivated in Your Faith and Practice – Video – May 11, 2020

Staying Motivated in your practice can be challenging even during ideal circumstances. For many though ideal circumstances rarely occur. For some practice is done as an isolated individual with no temple, no organized community of believers accessible. For others it can be an unrelenting obstacles that is difficult overcome and requiring many months or years of work. And not today in 2020 we find our selves practicing in the midst of a worldwide pandemic which…

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Lotus Sutra Chapter I – Part 1 – Dharma Talk in English and French – Video – May 10, 2020

In this Dharma talk I talk about a portion of one paragraph from Chapter I – Introduction – Lotus Sutra. The particular paragraph is the fourth one from the beginning as written in English. There is French interpretation for the entire lecture and the location is provided in French at the beginning. This talk covers two ways of considering the beam of light or the illumination the Buddha provides to 18,000 other worlds. There is…

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Baking Bread

Today, as I have been for many days now during the COVID-19 isolation period, I am baking bread. With grocery deliveries taking a week buying bread from the store isn’t working well. I love the taste of homemade bread except for sandwiches. For those I must admit I prefer the softer texture of commercial breads. Homemade bread is much more flavorful and considerably more dense than the commercial product. Homemade bread is great for dipping…

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Sing Joyfully – Meditations Chapter II – November 11, 2019

Folks who have practiced with me at the temple know that when I begin leading Odaimoku during our services I always begin with the preface “Let us chant with great joy and confidence.” I’d like to share with you some background behind this as we meditate on the Lotus Sutra. Joy and confidence are two characteristics that arise from within. While it is certainly possible for conditions to be present to induce joy or confidence,…

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