The Faith programme BBC Radio Berkshire

Over the last year and a bit I have been contacted by BBC Radio Berkshire to talk about aspects of Buddhism. This could be an interview about a Festival i.e. Wesak or Manjusri. I have also given one minute talks on a differnt topic.Below is the short piece on meditation. This obvoiusly is directed at a multi faith audience early on a Sunday morning.

‘I follow the practice of Soto Zen Buddhism. The twin pillars of this are meditation and the Precepts, which are the active aspect. Meditation is the bedrock from which everything flows. A good way into understanding this is the beginning of the Scripture of Great Wisdom, which goes:

“When one with deepest wisdom of the heart, which is beyond discriminative thought”

 

Meditation is the letting go, without judgement, of that which arises in our minds. Doing this regularly allows us to see a deeper truth to the one our minds generally conjure up. We see that when we follow these discriminatory thoughts they can drive us in ways that aren’t helpful, and form behavioural loops which are difficult to get out of. Meditation is a way to see through these repeating patterns and that it is possible to have peace and contentment in our lives. We return to our true spiritual home, a place which we had left but never quite forgot.”