Connecting Rituals: Buddhist Practices for Seasonal Awareness
Disconnection from Time, Place, and Self
Lately, I’ve been reflecting on how disconnected we can become from the natural rhythms of time — the changes in seasons, the cycles of nature, and the patterns of life itself. Although my driver’s license says I live in Newtown, more often I find myself residing in my own head — in thoughts, plans, worries, frustrations, dreams, and fleeting pleasures. It’s a well-mapped inner cityscape, but one that leaves me feeling isolated and constrained.
Mindfulness rituals, particularly those rooted in Buddhist tradition, help re-anchor us. They reconnect us to time, to others, to the land, and to ourselves.
Finding Belonging Through Ritual
But even my body reminds me I’m a visitor here. Genetically, 67% of me isn’t from this land — Australia — and the remaining 33% doesn’t strongly disagree. Most of my ancestry points to the Scottish Highlands, and having been there recently, I felt a powerful sense of belonging.
In northern Scotland, seasonal transitions are marked with deep, community-held ritual. Around this time, those who honour pre-Christian traditions are celebrating Beltane — fire festivals where people leap over flames, light candles to banish darkness, and carry embers home to reignite warmth. It’s a vivid expression of seasonal mindfulness — a way of living in step with the natural world.
But here in the Southern Hemisphere — in what I sometimes call the “Upside Down, Down Under” — we’re entering the colder, wetter months. If ancient traditions had evolved in Newtown, they might be observing Samhain now — the Celtic “Summer’s End,” a festival of stillness, remembrance, and thresholds between the worlds. This is a time to honour ancestors, to gather memories, to ward off spirits with carved faces (which we now do with plastic pumpkins and nylon costumes… and in the wrong season).
Modern life can feel like a separation from the cycles around us.
Yet that’s just one cultural overlay. Many of us remain disconnected from the rich and sophisticated seasonal awareness of First Nations peoples. In the Sydney basin, the D’harawal nation calls this time Tugarah Tuli — the Cold and Wet Season, sometimes associated with the Marrai’gang (the now extinct quoll). This is when summer yields to autumn, bringing welcome rains, green renewal, and a temporary abundance before winter descends.
During Tugarah Tuli, First Nations communities would mend cloaks, move to the coast, and gather with extended families. These were not merely survival strategies, but expressions of seasonal connection and community ritual — living in alignment with the land.
Why Buddhist Ritual Still Matters
While I’m not culturally connected to these traditions, I choose to engage with the ritual practices of Buddhism. I am a Buddhist. Chanting in Pali and Sanskrit, bowing, creating shrines, and making offerings bring me great joy, insight, and connection. So much so, I even wrote a book about it.
This might look like cultural appropriation to some — a Scottish-descended person with a Pali name, wearing Tibetan mala beads, and donning a Japanese-inspired kesa. But these Buddhist rituals aren’t an attempt to paper over my cultural or geographic dislocation. They’re not unfamiliar spiritual performances. These rituals — though shaped by other cultures — offer something deeply universal: connection, compassion, transformation.
Buddhist Ritual and the Seasons: Confession and Celebration
There are two elements of Buddhist liturgy I’d like to share that resonate deeply with this time of year — with Samhain, with Tugarah Tuli, with ancestral memory and seasonal change. They are: Confession of Faults and Rejoicing in Merits — two limbs of the Sevenfold Puja, a devotional practice found in many Buddhist traditions.
The Sevenfold Puja (also called the Seven-Limbed Prayer) is a meditation and ritual that helps us move beyond limited selfhood and cultivate Buddhist compassion and wisdom. It invites us to wish for the liberation of all beings — those of the land, sea, sky, and spirit.
Confession of Faults: Ethical Mindfulness in Community
Confession in this context is not about guilt or sin in a religious sense. It’s about ethical mindfulness. An honest, intentional reflection on how we’ve caused harm — in body, speech, or mind. It’s about facing the difficult truths within us, not in isolation, but in community. This is collective witnessing, not personal shame.
We gather to acknowledge our mistakes and commit to change. It’s a leap through our own fire, a symbolic cleansing like the Beltane flames or the inner transformation of Samhain. As the season turns, we let go of what no longer serves, making space for growth.
Rejoicing in Merits: Celebrating What’s Good
Just as important is the rejoicing. Yes, we falter. But we also show up, we practice kindness, we meditate, we care. In Rejoicing in Merits, we celebrate the goodness in ourselves and others. This is a fire that warms us through the darker months — a practice of self-compassion, gratitude, and Buddhist inspiration.
We recognize the courage it takes to live ethically, the resilience of ancestors, the guidance of teachers, the compassion of the Buddha. This is a harvest of goodness — just as vital as any other seasonal ritual. It’s a gathering of light. This reflection on memory and reverence is also beautifully expressed in The Blue Jardiniere, where family, beauty, and the sacred are honoured through an unexpected heirloom.
Buddhist Ritual as a Path of Connection
At their heart, Buddhist rituals — like puja — are about connection. Connection to an ideal, to community, to the Earth and to time itself. Through practices like Confession of Faults and Rejoicing in Merits, we return to what is real and essential.
Whatever hemisphere we come from, whatever ancestry we carry, we can all take part in rituals that mark time, honour life and death, and celebrate community. These are mindful practices for modern life — rooted in ancient wisdom, open to all who sincerely engage.
By attuning ourselves to both land and lineage — even borrowed or adopted ones — we embody the timeless teachings of Buddhist mindfulness and compassion. We mend our internal cloaks, gather with others and remember who we are, together.
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