Rainforest Mind with Kaspa Thompson
Summary: Buddhist teacher and psychotherapist Kaspa Thompson explores the mind, spirituality, wildness and ecology and the places where they intersect and overlap. Kaspa is ordained in Amida Shu, a Pureland Buddhist tradition. He recently qualified in Wild Therapy. Early episodes included: 'Christianity and Buddhism', 'Unmet Needs' and 'Wildness'
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- Artist: Kaspa Thompson
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Podcasts:
Today I enjoyed spending some of the morning with Rev Ian Spencer. Ian is an Anglican priest and runs a retreat centre not far from here. He’s very involved in interfaith work and is also a Zen Buddhist. He seemed like the perfect person to speak to about Buddhism and Christianity. In this conversation I ask him what Zen Buddhism offers his Christian practice, how he makes sense of ‘The only way to the Father is through me’ and we get to the mystical heart of each tradition. We cover topics like intimacy, holiness, relative and absolute truth. Ian mentions books by James Finley and Thomas Merton.
After listening to episode three: wildness, someone asked me, “If the jewelled forest in the Buddhist teaching is a call back to a real wild forest, why build temples?” I take that question as my springboard this week, thinking about how both wildness and temples have supported my spiritual practice and drifting off into other interesting and not completely unrelated areas. Hope you enjoy listening. Do drop me an email or comment below. Subscribe: RSS Feed
The importance of wildness, why wildness is fundamental, and trusting the process. I talk about getting out into the natural world, and touch on the process that led to the creation of the Amida Mandala Temple. In this episode I refer to Isabella Tree’s Wilding, and Nick Totton’s Wild Therapy. Subscribe: RSS Feed
In this episode I recount discovering a deep need (that’s probably impossible to meet), what helps me work through such needs, and how I can land in a place of feeling deeply satisfied. The Buddhafield talk is below, as is the talk from Sarah Boak that I mention. Kaspa’s talk from Buddhafield Festival: Sarah Boak’s talk: Subscribe: RSS Feed
This week I’m talking about Christianity and Buddhism, inspired by a recent (good) experience in a church, and Justin Whitaker’s blog post: The three Jewels of Buddhism and Multi-faith Affiliations I also draw on Paul F. Knitter’s book Without Buddha I Could Not Be A Christian and David Steindl-Rast’s Deeper Than Words. Subscribe: RSS Feed
