Day of Reflection Sun 13th Sept


We had a small, friendly Zen Peacemakers Day of Reflection on Sunday in Howard's House in Manchester. The theme for the day was "Listening as a Spiritual Practice", and we had various activities to explore this.

We began the day with a reading from the Sufi poet Rumi, then recited together the 'Zen Peacemaker Observances'- the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts plus the "5 Commitments" for creating a compassionate culture. After this we listenened to a guided CD meditation of the Mindfulness of Breathing, recorded by Vidymala Birch from the FWBO.

Having become relaxed and open, Howard then led an hour's exploration of classical music from his own life- beginning with several tracks from the 50s by the opera singer Kathleen Ferrier. Then a couple of tracks from Handel's Messiah. And ending with several pieces by a male voice choir from Kiev singing Orthodox Christian chants. Very powerful ending!

We began the afternoon with another poem by Rumi, and then watched a BBC nature video called "Earth Pilgrim"- a year's journey through the changing landscape of Dartmoor narrated and inspired by Satish Kumar, the ex-Jain monk who once made a peace walk from India to the USA.

We ended by listening to another CD by Vidyamala Birch- 'Kindly Awareness', a guided meditation based on the traditional Buddhist "Metta Bhavana" practice.

Throught the day we also had Council Circles, and experimented with our own chanting too- we used a beautiful tune for the Green Tara mantra used by a Nepalese nun Ani Choying; an Arabic chant "Ya Jamil" (O Divine Beauty!); and a chant from 60s Scottish folk-rock group 'The Incredible String Band':

"May the long time sun shine upon you, all love surround you. And the pure light within you guide your way home..."

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