Life is as transient as dew on the grass
– Zen Master Dogen
– Zen Master Dogen
When I first came to live in Damson Drive, I inherited a square patch of garden that consisted of three ornamental trees, two borders supporting some hardy shrubs, an expanse of lawn, a small shed and a colony of snails. The garden was modest in size and would not have won any prizes but from …
Continue reading “Feeding the Snails ~ on the theme of Nourish ~ by Karen Richards”
In the spring of 2019 I met, for the first time, with a small group of fellow Buddhists who were administrators of a website called Bright Moon, which was a platform for practitioners of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives to come together and to share their practice through discussion forums, articles of interest and book …
Continue reading “An ending and a beginning : The origins of Dew on the Grass ~ by Karen Richards”
One of the nice things about contributing to Dew on the Grass is that when other people share their experiences those experiences sometimes mirror your own, throwing new light on a situation or behaviour, in a very helpful way. When our friend Chris Yeomans wrote her piece on the theme of “Every Morning”, two weeks …
Dew on the Grass is the coming together of four Dharma friends who wish to express their lives as Buddhists through their writing, photography, art and other projects. The concept for a website came about when one of us was walking early one morning and noticed the dew glistening on the grasses. It reminded her of the words of Zen Master Dogen who, in 13th century Japan, wrote in his teachings that ‘This body is as transient as dew on the grass’, reminding us of the importance of not wasting our lives.
The nature of dew is that it appears in the morning, glistens for an instant and then disappears. Yet it always raises the spirits when you catch sight of it and it will always appear again. This website, therefore, is both an exploration and celebration of our own lives and an offering to those who happen by to read it. We set out to share, in a variety of media, our experiences and reflections.
If you like what you see, we invite you to use this platform to do likewise. You can do this by leaving a comment or by sharing your writing, photography and art using our contact page and we will publish it on your behalf. For guidance, written contributions should be no longer than 1000 words and reflect your life as a Buddhist. We reserve editorial rights.
We hope you enjoy your visit here.