I Know - Almost Another Year's Gone By

Hello everyone, and thank you for your patience.

My year following the last post here (March 2016) has revolved around a number of elements:

• having a gall bladder operation
• having another operation in July for colon cancer
• returning to Australia for chemotherapy treatment, which should be complete next month

All in all, not a situation conducive to posting on this site.

However, there have also been some small blessings:

• I've spent many months back with my family
• I've used some of the time to study the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and to commence a mindfulness practice
• I've made a few Plum Village sangha contacts locally
• I've found a new teaching role starting in mid-March based in Bali, Indonesia.

Naturally, I'm hoping that this will be beneficial to my recovery, less stressful than some previous positions, and a location filled with opportunities to learn a new culture and experience life on another island.

Once I'm re-established there, I will do my best to keep adding interesting and informative posts. In the meantime, I'm including further photos on my "Buddha Images" page, based on my final months in Taiwan.

Blessings, and a lotus for you. Greg.

The Last Six Months

My apologies to those hoping to read many insights and articles on my blog.
The last six months have been busy for many of the wrong reasons, including illness and ultimately an operation last month to improve my health outlook. This seems to have been successful, so I hope to put it behind me and move forward.
This period was also a time when I reviewed carefully the direction I was moving in with my Buddhist practice, and ultimately this meant I have changed my plans - for the better, I believe.
I am now studying the teachings of the Vietnamese-born Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and the Plum Village tradition he began. I am joining a local sangha for support and encouragement, and I hope to visit the AIAB (Asian Institute of Applied Buddhism) in Hong Kong in July to attend a 4-day retreat and take the Five Mindfulness Trainings.
In the meantime, I have set up a meditation room and hope to make good use of it as I explore the practice further. I have also added links to blogs and websites of Plum Village.
To those reading this post, I wish you every blessing for the year 2016.
Greg.