WELCOME
Welcome to my weblog. You will find here material relating to my activities, thoughts and creativity. Since it seems appropriate to give some account of myself at this point I can say that there is some basis for each of the following designations: David Brazier is a spiritual teacher (priest, head of a religious order), person of letters (author, poet, critic, pandramatist), doctor of philosophy, psychotherapist, social worker, husband, father, son (parents deceased), gardener, woodsman, traveller, and many other things. However, these all seem like so many sets of clothing hanging in a wardrobe for one to wear as occasion demands. I enjoy living a full life, balancing the physical, the intellectual and the creative. I am particularly grateful for friends - I live in a religious community that is open to the world, enjoy connections with many creative people and have am a person of enthusiasms.
I have known a number of notable people. I was much influenced by the psychologist Carl Ransom Rogers and in my book, Beyond Carl Rogers, I offer a refinement of Rogers' basic theory suggesting that the primary human drive is not self-centric but a form of alterity, or, more simply, love. This basic principle provides the pivot that relates my psychology, spirituality, creativity and cultural appreciation, work that has had many practical manifestations over the years. It receives further development in my next book Love and Its Disappointment which will be published in 2009.
I had a close association for many years with Jiyu Kennett Roshi, head of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives who died in 1996. With her I studied and made some progress in Zen Buddhism. I have also studied with a number of other well known Buddhist teachers. Reverend Gisho Saiko Sensei from Kyoto had a particularly powerful effect in giving my life direction even though we only knew each other for a short time. The eminent Vietnamese Buddhist master Minh Chao once said to me "All Buddhism is good" by which he meant that it is important to have an open and pluralistic attitude to those who follow a spiritual path, and this has always been my view. At the same time, I am certainly not unwilling to engage in controversy and to encourage free thinking. Tolerance, creativity and intelligence have always seemed more important to me than narrow conformity because there are so many different kinds of people.
Apart from these widely known people, a number of long standing friends have been and continue to be a mainstay of my life, as do the other members of the community where I live. Much of my work is done in co-operation with my wife Caroline and we have together developed an approach to Buddhist psychology and to community life. You can read up to date news of our books at Amida Books.
There are different sections to this weblog concerned with day to day or longer term matters. Please find your way around by using the "Categories" and the "Recent Posts" sections on the left.
Questions: There is a section in the weblog called "Questions in the Sand". This replaces a previous separate weblog of that name. If you want to address questions to David Brazier about religious or philosophical questions or about faith and practice, send them to him by e-mail to dharmavidya@amidatrust.com with "Questions in the Sand" in the subject line and the answers will appear in this section in due course.
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