Monday - Monday...

Monday mornings we don't usually have a service at The Buddhist House, which means that I can have a somewhat later start to the day - despite this it was still a struggle to pay heed to my alarm clock, and I was later than I intended going down to breakfast, which on Monday's tends to be a make your own affair.

All of which used to give Monday mornings a rather welcome lazy feel, but since January, on Monday's we've been running a multi-faith listening project - the Maitri project - in the centre of Leicester, which means we have to be up and about at a reasonable hour.

The idea for the drop in is pretty simple, we have free tea and coffee, and anybody can drop by and speak to one of our volunteers, who come from many different faith backgrounds. Some people come in because they don't have anybody else to talk to, some because there is something weighing on their minds, and for some it's become a regular event in their weekly schedule - a chance to share ideas with people from different backgrounds, and to make new friends.

The overarching aim of the project is one of community building, and so it's wonderful to see people coming in and now, after weeks of only speaking to perhaps one volunteer, beginning to have conversations with each other.

This afternoon, after a visit to Leicester Market to pick up groceries, I fixed a broken light, found a supplier of educational licences for software and sorted out some email issues.  After a wonderful dinner cooked by Sudhana, we had our regular Sutra Study class, which is open to the public, we began reading the collected works of Shinran, and had lots' of interesting questions around issues of karma, particularly about taking harmful actions to prevent further harm - all fascinating stuff.

Whatever action you take, even if you refrain from action, there will be karmic consequences The very act of living is one which causes harm - the best we can hope for is to live in faith, and eventually, to attain Ojo, rebirth in the Pureland.

Namo Amida Bu