When I moved back near my favourite forest recently my happiest waking activity quickly became an early morning walk amongst the tall mountain ash trees. The mists, the call of the loud cockatoos and the wonderous mimickery of the lyrebirds are a feast for the senses.
On two different occasions I met Buddhist practitioners each quietly breathing in the forest peace as was I.

Perhaps our Buddhist practices drew us to this alive, still, special place. The early hours means of course there are very few people walking the tracks and I guess we liked it that way.

However, in both cases a slow gentle conversation began to take place which lead to discovering our mutual understanding of value of the Buddha’s teaching.
I was able to exchange gifts with one of the men who was soon to leave Australia to return to his family in Sri Lanka after a number of years working in Australia. He gave me some beautiful herbal mix teas made by his tea company and I passed on one of the donated little buddhas which has completed a journey from the UK, to Australia and now on to Sri Lanka. Even though the Covid pandemic has shut down international travel for now, by the time we parted I carried a warm invitation to visit him and Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka anytime I wished.

Buddha donated by Padmajyoti UK