Tag: buddha

Buddhapadipa Temple Wimbledon

UK: Visiting Buddhapadipa Temple on Kai-Lin’s 10th Birthday! (27.9.2026)

We travelled by car from Sutton to Wimbledon to visit what we know as the “Buddhapadia Temple” – a Thai Temple financed by the King of Thailand. This caters for the UK’s relatively small Thai population (and the Theravada School of Early Buddhism they follow) – and for other Asian and non-Asian populations that follow all types of different people. The Thais are fairly tolerant. Due to the lack of Buddhist Temples in the UK – Chinese people tend to visit this Thai Temple – as do we. Richard Hunn stayed in this temple studying meditation during the 1970s, and I think he returned their in the 1980s to make a documentary about the famous murals (I am not sure about the exact dates).

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Deconstructing the Balathal “Samadhi” Skeletal Remains!

BMA (UK): India – Deconstructing the Balathal “Samadhi” Skeletal Remains! (21.9.2026)

Such hate-filled ignorance is the modus operandi of the Hindutva ideologue. Christianity was in India long before the British came. In Pakistan – formerly North India – the Muslims preserve a tomb said to be that of Jesus Christ (who supposedly lived-out his life in India following the survival of his crucifixion). Then there is the story of St Thomas who is believed to have been martyred whilst praying in a cave in Tamil Nadu. Even if neither of these stories are true – Christianity probably arrived in India long before it arrived in England. The Buddha, of course, was “Indian” and born a high caste Hindu (Kshatriya). Buddhists are reformed Hindus and were not foreign (or violent) invaders (Marx refers to Buddhists as practicing “rational Brahmanism”). Muslims did invade a “Buddhist” India, and did use violence against the Buddhists who refused to fight back. Only the followers of Brahma took to the field before being defeated. Yes – followers of Brahma still existed in Buddhist India – being a manifestation of Buddhist tolerance.

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Buddha & St Benedict United!

UK: Buddha & St Benedict Entwined – a Retrospect! (10.9.2026)

Now, whilst in Hereford I befriended an Irishman (my family are part Irish) named “Brian Gray” – who was training to be a Catholic Priest. He was fascinated by Buddhism and liked to “spar” with me in gloved-boxing matches (I was a nasty bit of work in my late teens – as I discovered my natural physical strength). He introduced me to a “Father Thomas” the Abbot of the Catholic Hereford Cathedral. He wanted me to go to the Vatican to meet the Pope – and to join the Catholic faith – but of course, this was not my path. I am not attuned to entering these paths that discriminate against non-members for not being members. Also, at that point I was learning about how the Vatican supported fascism before, during, and after WWII. So you can see my predicament. Although I had friendly interactions on the personal level, there were certain political realities that had to be acknowledged and balanced. Anyway, the upshot of all this was that I was introduced to the study of the Rule of St Benedict followed by the monastics of the Catholic Church (and given the ring you can see here – although I am unaware of its significance).

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The Connection Between Marx-Engel & Buddhism!

Email: BMA (UK) – The Buddhology of Marx and the Development of Historical Materialism! (6.9.2026)

​As you can see from the content of the BMA (UK) website – there are plenty of comparisons to be had between Buddhism and Marxism. This is the correct dialectical position and we must not permit revisionism or Trotskyism to stand in our way. Others have perceived such a connection – but I have spent many years quietly travelling to Buddhist countries, studying the Buddhist texts, sat in meditation, and navigating the labyrinth that is Socialism and Communism. This is a journey we must all go on (in our own way) to develop this pristine view. It is not “religious” – but the result of the stripping away of religion. This has included bypassing all the dialectical errors that have occurred in the understanding and deployment of Marxist Thought throughout the years. There is “no blame” – but merely getting on with what needs to be done.

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A Tamil Nadu temple has come under spotlight for its narrow 'Moksha passage'. (Photo: X)

India: “Moksha Passage” of Tamil Nadu Temple Claims Life – Another Escapes! (22.8.2028)

For the Hindu – who worships a pantheon of gods – this process also involves painful and/or selfless acts (similar to the self-flagellation found within Medieval Christianity). Whilst a Buddhist, for a time, might feel pain whilst deliberately “not doing something” they are used to doing (like an addict giving-up the desired object) – the Hindu will quite often willingly “invite” pain and suffering into their mind and body as a means to “purify” the senses, remove the obscuring karma, and clearly perceive the deity in question. At the temple below, this process involves squeezing through a narrow stone passage. This indicates that “Dharma” (the spiritual path of self-purification) – is both “narrow” and “restrictive” – which is true. However, the path of Dharma tends to indicate that behaviour during everyday life is controlled and restricted as regards “choices”. This stone passage seems to be a metaphor in concrete terms – teaching the adherent that everyday freedom must be “restricted” (the stone tunnel) – if ultimate freedom is to be achieved – (emerging from the narrow tunnel). Ironically, the adherent often imerges from the tunnel just as deluded as when they went in. Herein lies why the Buddha propagated the message he did.

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Sheldrake Lecture - 2004

UK: Should Cambridge University Investigate Rupert Sheldrake? (12.8.2026)

The Buddha does not contain ALL knowledge as if it were lying dormant in his mind at any given moment (therefore he is not “omniscient” in this sense) but he does say that an enlightened being can direct the mind in any direction he or she wishes (like a net enveloping and collecting all things) throughout the world, and in so doing bring any part of it into his enlightened conscious awareness.  This lasts for as long as concentration is held in that direction and then fails away – remember that the true nature of the mind is “empty” and spacious – so that all phenomena seems to arise and pass away within it.  In fact the Buddha states a long list of abilities and powers he possesses – including the ability for his mind’s awareness to travel to other worlds.  What happened over-time is that through various commentaries and translations, the fact that the Buddha could move his mind’s awareness in any direction (or none) became conflated with the idea that his mind’s awareness was already in every place and at every time.

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