Burns, Bhante & the Buddha
- Parami
- Jan 27
- 4 min read
Last Sunday was Burns night, the celebration of the anniversary of Scotland’s national Bard. While I know some people find Burns a controversial figure or incomprehensible, personally I find his poetry and his essays inspiring and still relevant. His message is a humanitarian one and I think some of the themes treated by him are messages that we, as Buddhists might find pertinent. I explored this on a day retreat I led at the GBC in January 2024. The link to the talks from this is here if anyone wants to find out more of my thoughts on Burns. There are two talks entitled Burns, Bhante and the Buddha:
The themes I explored were impermanence, friendship and solidarity. Impermanence is found beautifully expressed in these lines from Tam O’ Shanter:
But pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flow'r, its bloom is shed;
Or like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white—then melts forever;
Or like the borealis race,
That flit ere you can point their place;
Or like the rainbow's lovely form
Evanishing amid the storm.
Nae man can tether time or tide;
We also find a reflection on living in the present in Tae a Mouse, one of Burns’s most famous poems:
The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men
Gang aft agley, (go often wrong)
And leave us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promised joy!
Still, thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!
The present only touches thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e’e, (eye)
On prospects drear!
An’ forward tho’ I canna see,
I guess an’ fear!
In terms of solidarity and the recognition of inequalities perhaps the most famous quote comes from A Man’s a Man where Burns tells us
Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a' that,)
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth,
Shall bear the gree, an' a' that. (shall win the prize)
For a' that, an' a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That Man to Man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that.
There is a lot more I could say on this but I won’t push it further for now - enough is enough! Last year we held a great Burns supper as a fun fundraising event. This year, we felt that there is just too much going on at the moment and we didn’t have the resources to organise one. Also, we are still not in Woodside Crescent and it will be much easier (and cheaper of course) to run an event like that when we can do it there rather than renting a bowling club. So, all being well we will be running a Burns supper in 2027. Watch this space and, of course, I will be targeting some of you for the set pieces.
The other thing I wanted to highlight this week is the sangha retreat at Adhisthana in September this year. In the newsletter sent out today I said:
Last year 13 of us from the Scottish Sangha attended a retreat at Adhisthana together. It was lovely to be with local friends while being part of a bigger, international retreat. In 2026, we have that opportunity again. This year, Nagabodhi and I will be leading the retreat. The theme is the same theme we are exploring in our Mandala night classes: Buddhism for Today and Tomorrow.
Nagabodhi worked closely with Sangharakshita for many years and wrote the recent biography The Boy, the Monk, the Man which is a great read.
So to amplify a bit more:
Nagabodhi is a great person to do this retreat with. He is funny, thoughtful and has a long history with Bhante and with Triratna. He has loads of stories and also is someone who keeps up with what is happening in the world. He and I work well together. The first time I was on a retreat team with him was in December 1980. We were often on teams together through the years I lived at the LBC and have done quite a few things together since then.
The theme interests me a lot. The talks on which it will be based are the same talks that we are exploring in Mandala night classes through this year: Buddhism for Today and Tomorrow. They were the first talks of Bhante’s I ever heard and were my introduction to the then FWBO. They captivated me and I felt like I had found answers to questions that I had not even managed to formulate. The main message was a transformation of self and of world. What interests me now is how those themes play out in today’s world. While we still live in a world plagued by greed, hatred and delusion, so much has changed. The issues are global now in a way that they were not 50 years ago. So, what does Buddhism have to offer today and what can we offer for tomorrow’s world? This retreat will be a great opportunity to look at these questions and face up to the issues that concern us from the perspective of the Dharma. I believe we need the dharma more than ever and I hope that those of us who go on the retreat will come back with ideas to take into our new centre and the world beyond.
Click the link below for information and booking.
Ok, that’s it for now. I leave you with this thought -
For now, as always,
May all beings be well, may all beings find true happiness and its causes and may all beings be free from suffering.
Where the Bodhichitta has not yet arisen
May it arise
Where it has arisen
May it flourish
Where it flourishes
May it never die
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