A Fond Farewell

The final walk on the Forest Path

The past year of blogging Forest Wisdom has been a fascinating and fulfilling journey for me. It began quite tentatively as an experiment in writing, aimed at sharing the teachings of Ajahn Chah and the Western Forest Sangha – albeit from my own limited viewpoint! As stated in the disclaimer on the right bar of the blog, I can take no credit for any actual wisdom that’s appeared in these articles, for it is the insights of Ajahns Chah, Sumedho, Brahm et al that have manifested through me, not from me. I thank them for their inspirational teachings and practice of the Way of the Buddha.

Much to my surprise, Forest Wisdom has attracted a small but wonderful band of readers, many of them bloggers themselves writing on the Buddhadharma, but many not. All that have written comments on this blog have my gratitude for your participation and encouragement. To those that have never had the inclination to comment, I am also thankful for your attention and hope that you’ve found some stimulation in your Buddhist practice, or if not this, at least an enjoyable read. To all Forest Wisdom readers I extend my heartfelt thanks.

Over the twelve months of the blog, the Theravada Buddhist stance has become a little diluted, especially with the experiments of Douglas Harding. Mahayana Buddhism has infiltrated Forest Wisdom on more than one occasion as well. These influences have been long-standing with me, going back over twenty years, but when starting the blog last year they’d taken a back seat to a focus on the teachings & practices from the lineage of Ajahn Chah. Over the past few months they have reasserted themselves, so it seemed appropriate to give them a fuller part in my blogging efforts; Forest Wisdom didn’t seem the right place for this broader effort to take place. Hence the birth (rebirth!) of Buddha Space.

I hope that readers of this blog will find Buddha Space of equal interest, and that it will follow on successfully with the reflective aspect begun on these pages. With a broader scope of influences, this will include Ajahn Chah & his spiritual descendants along side the Chinese Zen Master Xu Yun & his followers. The aforementioned experiments of the late, great British philosopher Douglas Harding will continue to be shared with anyone that wishes to explore the nature of knowing. In fact, any source of wisdom and spiritual growth may make an appearance on Buddha Space if it complements the Path towards Awakening and the ending of suffering. For, ultimately, this is the purpose of the Buddhadharma; to help us to free ourselves from the grip of those desires that cause suffering.

So, this is a fond farewell. Yet, over at Buddha Space, a sort of rebirth has taken place, and a new and exciting (?) part of the journey to enlightenment has come into being. Let us hope that we are up to the journey, and that we will be able to explore the Buddhadharma with the humility required to reach the final goal. In the meantime, I will wish you well on your travels and repeat my appreciation for everyone and anyone that’s ever spent their precious time perusing the pages of Forest Wisdom:

Thank you!