Our latest BRC recipe book, The Cake the Buddha Ate, continues on its best-selling journey. A Dutch publisher has made enquiries about distributing the book in the Netherlands. It is now in its third reprint since it was first launched in April this year: quite unprecedented for a South African recipe book! In the process, our first recipe book, Quiet Food, has gained a second life: it too is in process of being reprinted – for the seventh time! The Cake the Buddha Ate finds itself sometimes unexpectedly in rather swish company: Unsolicited, it was recently featured in Glamour, a fashion magazine….

Louis

What do a leaking roof, an African boma and the Buddha have in common?

The Buddhaboma project was linked to the re-roofing of the (“old”) Lodge - the original, ashram-style building accommodating most of the people visiting the BRC.

We asked our well-wishers to contribute to the cost of this very necessary repair by financing a tree or branch (or a leaf) of the Buddhaboma.

Happily, we had a wonderful response and have been able to start on the work: the additional brickwork has been erected and all material for the new roof has arrived on site. To save expense, we are doing the work ourselves under the direction of our Estate Manager, Richard Norris.

As soon as the Lodge roof is more advanced, we will divert some staff to construct the boma’s decorative perimeter bamboo fence and plant the trees and build the thatched meditation pavilion in its centre.

We are very grateful to all those who are supporting these projects!

Good karma… Karma and rebirth: do they stand up to scrutiny?

Western Buddhist scholars, authors and teachers have made the philosophy of the Buddha into one of the most thrilling, inspiring events in our modern history. They have collectively redefined traditional Buddhism so that it now fits comfortably into our western culture - which is, after-all, radically different from that of ancient India, China or Tibet.

Buddhist Mindfulness is now routinely used as a therapeutic tool in medical clinics and hospitals throughout the world, and is incorporated in the curriculum of Psychology and Business Administration Departments at a number of universities, including Oxford, Edinburgh and UCT.

Interestingly, many western Buddhists sideline two fundamental areas in the Buddha’s teachings: karma and rebirth. This reluctance to adopt it wholeheartedly into their understanding and practise of Buddhism tends to rest on two issues: firstly, the fact that the Buddha did not expect you to accept anything he taught unless it could be verified in your own direct experience; and, secondly, that he may have paid lip service to the established traditions of karma and rebirth in the society in which he moved and used it more metaphorically than as a proven fact.

I personally go along with both these sentiments. Karma and rebirth tend to be too glibly employed to explain some mysterious happenings in our life that don’t seem to follow the usual pattern of cause and effect. Still: I remain intrigued…

Karma? Cause & Effect? Synchronicity? Singularity?

It helps little to adopt a different terminology, such as C. G. Jung’s Synchronicity or Chaos Theory because these still don’t provide a comprehensive, intelligible, explanation of karma and rebirth the way the Buddha may have had in mind.

An encounter with a case of rebirth in a young Indian girl some years ago left me utterly startled and very reluctant to dismiss karma and rebirth as an explanation for what I had witnessed. It is in my nature to insist on verifiable facts. It is part of my profession as an architect and civil engineer only to work with things that can be proven and withstand enquiry and scrutiny; otherwise my buildings will fall down….

So this is an area of the Buddha’s philosophy that still puzzles me. I am therefore going to have another bash at understanding the nature of karma and rebirth in a retreat I am conducting in July next year. It is called: Why things happen the way they do. I will try and see whether a Quantum Physics understanding of the world isn’t perhaps helpful in getting a handle on these ancient traditions of karma and rebirth…. Wish me luck, please. I’ll need it.

Report-back: the BRC Buddhaboma A mini pilgrimage tracing the Buddha’s life and teachings through trees

There is, at last, a little more progress to report about the Buddhaboma project. To refresh your memory: we plan to create a commemorative garden in the shape of a traditional African boma inside of which the eight trees associated with the Buddha’s life are planted.

We will be able to go on a mini pilgrimage circumambulating these trees, and trace the most important events in the history of the Buddha and his philosophy.

The species of trees we need have been located and reserved by Christopher Dalzell and are awaiting shipment to S.A. Permits for 2 trees have been issued, but for some mysterious reason only known to the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, the remaining 6 permits have now been outstanding for 8 months. I have been pursuing this relentlessly and have unearthed every official at the Department of Agriculture who could be helpful and make this project possible. There is now some hope that we will get the remaining permits. We’ll stay in touch.