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What is generosity from a Buddhist perspective?
What is generosity? We commonly think of generosity as an action – we give food to someone who asks, we give money to someone on the streets – but generosity can involve many aspects that can be taken for granted. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, generosity (Skt. dāna-pāramitā, Tib. སྦྱིན་པའི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་) is one of the pāramitās (a word that is commonly translated as “perfection,” but actually means something closer to “something that goes beyond”), and the practice of this perfection is important for the accumulation of merit (Skt. puṇya, Tib. བསོད་ནམས་). But what is merit? In some popular understandings, merit can be explained using the analogy of money in a bank account –…
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What would Reinhold Niebuhr now be saying about events in Ukraine?
It is of course rash to suggest what Reinhold Niebuhr would now be saying about Ukraine: first because he has been claimed by both those on the left and the right of politics, and secondly it is difficult to separate one’s own views from those one posits might be his. But rash though it may be, the question is still worth asking. First, I suggest, he would be looking critically at the position of NATO supporting governments. What is their responsibility for this tragedy? Even when the cause was undoubtably right, as it was for the Allies in World War II, Niebuhr was keen to eliminate any hint of self-righteousness.…
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A Shinto Shrine’s Storytelling Strategy
In postwar Japanese society, the increase in population brought about major changes in the social environment, such as the “examination race” and the “baby boom.” In response to these changes, people increasingly visited Shinto shrines to pray at life’s milestones, such as “omiyamairi” (a baby’s first shrine visit), “Shichi-Go-San” (ceremonies at the ages of seven, five, and three), passing entrance exams and weddings. In other words, shrines have promoted a homogeneous and unusual approach to life rituals in response to the social conditions of a growing population. In recent years, however, Japanese society has experienced an accelerated population decline, falling birthrates, and an ageing population, and the operation of Shinto shrines…
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Curating Spaces of Hope: Embodying Leadership in Uncertain Times
The Queen is dead, long live the King! A post-Elizabethan era begins, and with it an existential shift unlike anything experienced, certainly since World War Two, maybe in our history. When the pandemic hit, Her Majesty said that ‘we will meet again’ and so it was, but in so doing we note the depths of uncertainty surrounding us. Something has changed; deep, intangible, fundamental. Life is more fragile than it was. The cost of living crisis bites, catalysed by Brexit. The Climate Crisis continues, exemplified by catastrophic floods in Pakistan and temperatures in the UK over 40 degrees for the first time. The war in Ukraine rages, displacing millions and…
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Clothing Shame
“I’m on the bus at the moment, can you call me back?” Mandy[1] was homeless and when she left a message on the clothing bank’s answer phone she was clearly desperate for help. It seemed strange then that she wanted now to postpone a conversation. The penny always seems to make the loudest noise when its drop is slowest. “Would you like to speak to Rebecca, one of our other volunteers?” I belatedly asked in an embarrassed fluster. “Oh yes please!” I handed the phone to Rebecca and retreated to the back of the chapel where all our clothing stock is stored. I started to sort some clothes donations into…
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Responding to the Cosmic Chorus: A Meditation on the Ecological Visions of Islamic and Hindu Theologies
Mortal dooms and dynasties are brief things, but beauty is indestructible and eternal, if its tabernacle be only a petal that is shed tomorrow…Inter arma silent flores [“In times of war, flowers fall silent”] is no truth; on the contrary, amid the crash of doom our sanity and survival more than ever depend on the strength with which we can listen to the still small voice that towers above the cannons, and cling to the little quiet things of life, the things that come and go and yet are always there, the inextinguishable lamps of God amid the disaster that man has made of his life. Reginald Farrer quoted in:…
