WALLERDHARMA
Once upon a time there lived a Buddhist monk called Bodhidharma.
It is believed that in the 5th Century he was responsible for bringing Buddhism to China and establishing the first physical training for monks of the Shaolin Monastery which in turn led to the phenomenon known as Shaolin Kung Fu.
According to his Wikipedia entry "Bodhidharma came from the Western Regions which typically refers to Central Asia but can also include the Indian subcontinent and is described as either a Persian Central Asian or a South Indian ... the third son of a great Indian king. Throughout Buddhist art, Bodhidharma is depicted as an ill-tempered profusely-bearded, wide-eyed non Chinese person. He is referred to as "The Blue-Eyed Barbarian".
His name translates as "dharma of awakening."
It would be nearly twenty centuries later that a successor would appear in the West.
The South West.
WHY HAS WALLERDHARMA LEFT FOR THE SOUTH WEST?
Born in the 20th Century and raised in Streatham, South London by his parents Percy and Maud, Wallerdharma (also known as Peter, Peterdharma or, The Streatham Bodhisattva) is now recognised by those close to him as being responsible for bringing Buddhism to the South West of England.
Or at the very least, Stroud in Gloucestershire which many people have thought to be the centre of the universe.
It was in the mid 1970s that Wallerdharma made the journey from the city to the country and brought with him his idiosyncratic "crazy wisdom" that had been shaped and tested via the Streatham Common Rookery, through the kaleidoscopic counterculture of the 1960's into something more refined. Something pure.
His defining practice, which has been honed to a fine art in the subsequent decades, combined three things : architecture, buddhism and coffee.
Desigining and building Cotswold temple sanctuaries throughout the region, including the Rivendell-like family dwelling Cotsal for Wallers past, present and future, Wallerdharma then sought to provoke, question and antagonise those he considered asleep to "ultimate view", mostly in cafe temples which he frequented to dispense his immense spiritual wisdom.
From high above the town, he ascended the lofty, rarified heights of Mahayana buddhism and then descended (as all true bodhisatvvas are honor bound to do) to bestow his learning and realisations with the poor souls mired in dualistic thinking.
Though no longer inhabiting his current form in the human incarnation most of us close to him have been blessed to know, his future incarnation is assured to be even richer and abundant in Bodhichitta and will eventually save us all (yes, even you!) from Samsara.
His legacy is alive and well and has inspired new generations of future creatives and spiritual seekers.
In summary, Wallerdharma is both the continuation of one pre-existing lineage and the beginning of a new one.
All disciples are welcome to take refuge in the great protector spirit of Wallerdharma.
I will now pass on the final teaching written by Wallerdharma himself for his 80th birthday earlier this year.
80
A portal entrance
to the underworld that draws us
deep into Plato's cave
revealing wandering shades, stumbling, frightened,
determined to avoid the light of release
Of course, we share this suffering.
the angst bestowed at birth
that clings throughout the struggle that follows.
we call it our shadow, without realising it is fate staking its claim
there is no escape from time's plan to erase our tracks,
each like a solitary bird flying across the sky ...
a moment later, gone!
At eighty years of a life
the searing real
beckons the presence of an alleged being.
the vow of knowing requires
the gathering of the unsettled herd,
softly delivering all to safe harbour.
Thanks for everything dad!
You gave us everything and nothing all at once.
A perfect life.
Now onto the next!
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