Sangha friends, Kath Mitchell, Mark Schrader and Chani Grieve are facilitating a heart-felt Wangapeka community exploration of ethics called,"Refraining from Harm, Supporting All Life". They have invited a number of us older yogis of life and living to participate by way of pre-recorded zoom conversations or presentations. As I contemplated these themes in the context … Continue reading What We Love
I am animate.I am an animal.I am born from life and living,And so, dear friend, are you.Everything we experience reverberates with these truths. Age and health; these days, my cells, and organs and muscles and bones are in a process of reorganisation. Faculties such as balance, sight and memory, once familiar and taken for granted, … Continue reading A Bouquet of Flowers in the Midst of Suffering
Years back, I was given a shakuhachi. This generous gift branched into myriad explorations, that enriched my life and the lives of many I interacted with. With Kelvin Falconer I explored flute making and saw how this closely paralleled healthy human making. The metaphoric mystery of music and musing, – flute making and human making … Continue reading Film Making, Flute Making, Human Making: a fruitful collaboration
Dear Readers It's Christmas day in NZ. A gentle rain is thwap, thwap, thwapping on the palm leaves and a vast chorus of birdsong is celebrating the moment. Wherever you are and however you find yourselves, Mary and I send warmest good wishes along with a few links and announcements. "Ten Love Letters to The … Continue reading Christmas Giftings
A month has gone by since my last post titled Gaza Catastrophe. During that time the situation there has become unimaginably worse. I have felt compelled to write further. We take refuge in love and clear seeingWe live courageously in this world of birthing/dyingOur hearts embrace all companions on this path of lucidity and freedom … Continue reading Gaza Catastrophe – Human Catastrophe
I come from my mother,and mother I be,forest and sky and thee. The suffering in Gaza has become too horrific for me to not say something on Green Dharma Treasury. Not speaking makes me feel somehow complicit. Speaking, however, can feel trite, a way of unloading tension in an ocean of horror. That said, I … Continue reading Gaza Catastrophe
After a very extended labour, midwifed by Stephen, Mary and the printers in Auckland, I'm delighted to announce that the final version of This Nectar of Naturalness is now now available in a beautifully bound and laid out, limited edition paperback version. Copies can be can purchased from this site for $20 NZ plus postage. … Continue reading Excerpt from Tarchin’s New Book “This Nectar of Naturalness”
Dear friendsI just listened to a wonderful recording by biologist, teacher and writer, David Haskell. It seemed to capture in 40 minutes what I feel I have been hinting at in teaching for all these many years. I urge you to take time to listen, preferably with a good head set or sound system, and … Continue reading The Symphony of Natural Awakening
Please click here to download or read a fully formatted PDF version. It's been raining all week. A weather system of blocking highs and small intense lows is funnelling hot humid equatorial air down to Aotearoa, and so we sit on our damp, misty deck, having breakfast, listening to a morning chorus of invisible birds, … Continue reading What To Do When It All Seems Too Much
Today, Jan. 22, 2022, Thich Nhat Hanh died in Vietnam and my heart is cracked thoroughly openmoist eyes of gratitudeand a big smilethankyou Thay, thankyou, thankyou, thankyousmiling, breathing, present, appreciating, offering. For a rich remembering published in "Lion's Roar." go to https://www.lionsroar.com/thich-nhat-hanh-zen-teacher-who-popularized-mindfulness-in-the-west-dead-at-95/?goal=0_1988ee44b2-9ee0296fd8-25587484&mc_cid=9ee0296fd8
Green Dharma Treasury 