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Tai Chi in Eldon



Kavyasiddhi, a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order and regular contributor to BBC Radio 2’s ‘Pause for Thought’, writes from her home in Manchester, UK, with some reflections on her latest series. She says -

'You sound too meditative - think of the Lady Gaga track following you!' 

“This feedback came from the BBC producer editing my overnight Pause for Thoughts. He has a point; most people tune to Radio 2 in the middle of the night to stay awake, not to be lulled to sleep. We spoke as I recorded six spots, the last of which go out this weekend, July 30/31st, during Richard Allinson at approx 0420, repeated on Zoe Ball at approx 0620. If you're going to a car boot sale, you might hear them as you drive. They're also available for a week on BBC i-player. 

“I've written and recorded almost 90 overnight Pause for Thoughts since 2005; I write 5 or 6 at a time, upbeat but not inane, jargon free but not banal. They want a Buddhist take on a topical theme for people who aren't particularly religious, let alone Buddhist, and it can be hard to get the right tone: one week, I went from a kitten at Buddhafield to the repatriation of the alleged Lockerbie bomber, which I felt covered a sufficient range of human experience - even at 2 o'clock in the morning. 

"Kavyasiddhi"

"Though Bhante has not been listening to many audio books, he has greatly enjoyed hearing a CD of Satyadaka reading his own translation of Heine's The North Sea, and described it as 'an impressive piece of work'. Satyadaka was inspired to attempt translating the poem after reading the first part of Bhante's 'Looking Back' series, published in Shabda last year. In his account of his time with Paramartha in Ipswich searching for traces of his Lingwood ancestors, Bhante mentions his long-standing admiration of Heine's poem in the course of describing the visit they made to Felixstowe, to see the sea after which the poem is named.
"Bhante and I have continued following Sudhana's adventures in the Gandhavhuya Sutra, and as the hero has finally reached Vairocana's tower, there is good reason to think we may finish in the next month. I also read him Sulak Sivaraksa's book The Wisdom of Sustainability: Buddhist Economics for the 21st Century, which he thought an inspired sermon on the need for a society more in accordance with Buddhist ideals."

Vidyaruchi