Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Mandy writes... 

There's a sense of witnessing something that others are choosing not to see. There's  an experience of longing, for darkness and deepness, that's very primal. In the end, when the traveller resists the woods and continues with his journey, it's with a sense of weariness. He turns back to his life a little reluctantly, knowing that he has responsibilities to others. 

I've always loved this poem for its spooky atmosphere and the unsettled feeling it leaves me with. Although he was only 38 when he wrote it, I think Frost is contemplating his own death here, with a measure of acceptance. That's one of the things that the shortest day of the year is about for me, too.

I admire how he manages to evoke all this - as well as the snowy woods and their deep silence, broken only by the horse's harness bells and the 'sweep of easy wind and downy flake' - in so few words!  

by Robert Frost 

Opening up to the Light

Grieving for Mandela

by Rowan Imolc

Today I drove to work and I found myself starting to cry as I held the wheel. I was crying for a man I had never met, from a country I have never visited, from a culture I am not familiar with. At first I wondered if a sentimental side had surfaced, maybe I was being caught up in the media coverage of his death. But as the sobs became deeper and tears rolled down my face, I knew more was going on for me.

Another one of our fathers of light has died, left our world. I cried that he had left us. I cried because we lost someone so good. I wish him well and notice the blue sky and the birds. It's okay for him to go, in fact it's beautiful and right. However I am scared for us. Our fathers are dying, our strong and determined are leaving and I see them pass one by one. I worry that we'll loose the Dalai Lama too, and I won't see the strength of his elegant spirit again. I see the brittle celebrities, heroes and politicians; false icons, lacking substance, heart, raw truth and sustained determination. I feel our world lost something good this month, and it makes me sad.

Nelson Mandela said pure things, he fought and struggled and his freedom was taken from him as a result. He was impassioned and determined to establish a free and fair society. He said that he fell at times but that the mark of person was how well we get back up. He was wise and fair and he tried his best.

I'm more worried for our world than I have ever been. I am disgusted by the struggles and ugliness that are in front of my eyes, untrue, impure, souls. Uncaring, un-protective leaders are in charge. All children feel insecure around an uncaring father; all wives are despondent next to a man who doesn't love. And it is still mainly men who rule this human-world tribe.

Suddenly I feel all people are my tribe. I may not have known Mandela, but I was in his tribe, one of fighting for fairness, kindness, of being able to let go of pain, anger and hatred. So how will the tribe fare without him? We shall see.

People have learned these lessons of death since life began and here we are living it time and again as if it was the first time we lost a beautiful soul. It will always be like the first time; a stopped heart-felt moment, a respectful bit of time engulfed by thoughts of you, giving thanks to you, flowers, music and ritual for you.

Then we will start turning our wheels again, never forgetting but carrying on living, because we are still here and we must. You were so important to us because the light you carried we know we carry in ourselves, the strength you had we know we are capable of having, the fears you had we have too. You give us hope that the most light-filled, powerful, and beautiful part of ourselves will win-out in our own lives. We connected with you because we know we have a pure fighting spirit in our own hearts. Even in death inspire us to work hard to make a better world... what other task is worth embarking upon?

Blessed be and thank you Nelson Mandela. 

Spreading Light in the Darkness

Jenny Roberts writes about deepening practice and transforming lives

In spite of all the ups and downs of my life, I live in fortunate circumstances, here in the west. Sometimes I try to imagine what it would feel like to be born in India as someone outside the caste system. A Dalit or someone from the so-called Scheduled Castes - the kind of person who used to be called untouchable - and who is still regarded very much as that.

What would it feel like going to school (as one of the lucky ones!) and having to sit outside the classroom; be shunned by the teachers, perhaps beaten-up by the other children and forced to wear old clothes and do all the dirty jobs - just because of the circumstances of birth?

What if I had to rely on scraps of food, live in a slum where sewage ran in the streets and sleep on folded cardboard in a tiny hovel with all my family? What if, as a girl, I was taken out of school at 12 years old and married off to an older man who I had never met before?

What if I was denied even the most basic human rights and any chance of self respect or personal growth? 

This is not fiction. There are around 250 million people in India who live in these kind of severely degrading conditions... And we - you and I - are in a position to help some of them to step into a better, fuller and kinder life.

The Karuna Trust is a Triratna charity that raises money to help lift these people out of their appalling conditions. In the last 30 years over 10,000 boys and girls have passed through their hostels and gone on to live better lives (and encourage others to do the same). Women have been shown how to report rape without getting beaten up by the very policemen who should be helping them. Teenage girls have been helped to understand birth control, given access to better healthcare and given the opportunity to delay marriage until they are older. Co-operative ventures have been initiated and vast numbers of people have been helped to break away from the traditional poverty into which they were born (and in which they were expected to stay)

Karuna - our Triratna charity - spends over £1 million in India every year doing this work. But they could do more... if they had more funds. 

Like other Triratna Buddhists I will be spending some of my time next year on a fundraising appeal. And, quite apart from doing immense good, it will provide me with some of the most effective Dharma practice that I will ever encounter. 

You might be thinking that you could not do this. But, believe me, you almost certainly could.

Of course, sometimes it's scary and uncomfortable (especially at the start) but there is also immense support - from friends who are doing the same thing, from the daily training sessions, from the study, from the Dharma practice and, most of all, from your own improved self-confidence and self-respect.

It is quite the most rewarding and beautiful thing that I have ever done. And, paradoxically, it isn't about asking people for money.

The Karuna approach is simply about making a genuine and truthful connection with other people. It is about metta. Metta for the people in India , metta for oneself and metta for the people who answer the door or pick up the phone.

Of course there are people who prefer not to engage with us. But there are also those who are a joy to meet, and with whom a heart connection arises: you with them - they with you. On a Karuna appeal, we are not persuading people to part with their money. We are simply offering those that wish to respond, an opportunity to be generous. And so many people do respond and are so grateful for the chance.

There are vacancies for women, on the appeal that I will be taking part in (in Manchester next Spring) and there are many opportunities for men to join similar appeals. There are also generous support packages available so that no one needs to suffer financially.

Will you consider taking six weeks out of your life to move your Dharma practice forward and, at the same time, help hundreds of people escape the hell of 'untouchability'?

Please consider the possibility and take the opportunity to find out more by talking to me or by contacting Karuna direct. I promise you that it will be one of the greatest experiences of your life.

Bodhiketu or Nisha: 0207 700 3434

email: appeals@karuna.org

www.appeals.karuna.org

www.karuna.org

"I had such fun, I felt joy, I cried tears... there was the most satisfying and fulfilling sense of achievement and connection with myself, the team and the wider world." Jodie

"This campaign has been the most fulfilling thing I have done since graduating." Ruta

"Whatever you think it's going to be, it won't be. But do it anyway." Caroline

"One of the most holistically beneficial things I have ever done." David

Please note that the views expressed in this newsletter are the opinions of individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Leeds Buddhist Centre, theTriratna Buddhist Community (Leeds) or The Triratna Buddhist Order